THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION IN NEW SPAIN

Abstract

Abstract.This article presents the results of the historical-pedagogical
study, which objective was to determine the philosophical foundations of New
Spain education, to know, under what premises did the thinkers of the New
World plan to educate the conquered peoples, what kind of man did they want to
form. The study was carried out using the documentary-bibliographic research
method. Authors found, that the philosophical foundation of the education of the
conquered peoples in New Spain was the idea of their salvation and formation of
good Christians. These foundations are formed from the reflections of New Spain
thinkers on the problem of the discovery of the new continent; deliberations
regarding what are the beings that inhabit these lands, if they are fit to learn, to be
saved from their sins. This problem was approached in the first maximum houses
of study on the continent from the medieval philosophical currents (scholasticism,
humanism, hermeticism), modern philosophy brought to the Americas by the
learned men of the time, mostly representatives of the Catholic religious orders:
Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Jesuits. Thus, the scholasts,
discussed the origin of the Indian doubting if he human is, on the other hand, the
humanists had no doubt that they dealt with human beings with a fine culture and
language. This vision was developed with the Novohispanic Eclecticism and
ideas of the protection of Indians before Europeans, science education, need for
elementary professional training of the marginalized population. Finally, the
Catholic Church decided that while all Indians were great sinners, the Inquisition
could not condemn them because they acted like children without understanding
their actions. Therefore, they need to be taught and evangelized. Thus, the
Catholic Church authorities gave the conquerors the so-called “permits to do
justice”, according to which they had the right to seize the lands of the Indians
with all the inhabitants, provided them catechism teaching.