Humanismo clasicista mediterráneo y concepción antropológica del mundo: el caso de los jesuitas

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reconsider the role played by the jesuits in the history of science in Early Modern Spain, with special attention to their contribution to linguistics and etnograhpy. The jesuits have been chosen for testing the new theories made in the last quarter of our century on the scientific importance of the classical humanisme, borned in the mediterranean Europe but extended all over the world afterwards. This hypothesis is particularly correct regarding those disciplines, because it seems that the arising of the European conscience on other languages and cultures —with similar dignity, though not being mediterranean origin— was a modern «invention» and not a classical heritage.