Sedona Salons THE VALUE OF AZTEC PHILOSOPHY

Saturday, October 3, 2015 Alejandro Santana Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Portland

I. Who Were the Aztecs? Who Were the Aztecs? A. Clearing up some misconceptions. B. Aztecs were sophisticated and had a cultural continuity with the Mesoamerican past. II. Why is Aztec Philosophy Important? Topics of genuine philosophical interest: Metaphysics: the study of the nature, constitution, and structure of reality. A. Ontology: the study of being; the study of what there is. B. Cosmology: the study of the origin and nature of the universe.

Remedy for the historic under-representation of Hispanics in academic philosophy: Hispanics (a term that will be used interchangeably with “Latino” are a large and growing demographic yet they have been historically underrepresented in philosophy. A. 2% of members in the American Philosophical Association (2013-2014; http://www.apaonline.org/?demographics). B. 7% of graduates majoring in philosophy (2009), up from around 4.5% in 1995. (http://www.humanitiesindicators.org/content/indicatordoc.aspx?i=266).

continued... Sedona Salons Hispanics are the largest minority group in the US, and among the fastest growing. A. 17% of US population, 3/4 of which are either US-born or naturalized (http:// www.pewhispanic.org). B. Hispanics of Mexican origin accounts for the majority of Hispanics in the US (64%) (http://www.pewhispanic.org). If we want philosophy to be a more inclusive discipline, it would be good to reach out to this community in a way that speaks its cultural heritage. III. Suggestions for Further Reading Carrasco, David with Scott Sessions. Daily Life of the Aztecs: People of the Sun and Earth. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998.

Carrasco, David and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. Moctezuma’s Mexico: Visions of the Aztec World. Niwot, CO.: University Press of Colorado, 1992.

Coe, Michael D. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs 4th ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994.

Hassig, Ross. Time, History, and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico. Austin: The University of Texas Press, 2001.

León-Portilla, Miguel. Fifteen Poets of the Aztec World. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. —. Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.

López-Austin, Alfredo. Tamoanchan, Tlalocan: Places of Mist. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 1997.

Maffie, James. Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2014. —. “The Epistemology of Aztec Time-Keeping.” APA Newsletter on Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy 3 (2), 2004.

Townsend, Richard F. The Aztecs. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000.

Sahagun, Bernardino de. 1957. Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. Santa Fe: School of American Research; Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah.

Soustelle, Jacques. Daily Life of the Aztecs. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961.