Porfirio Díaz, Positivism and 'The Scientists

Historical myths can be very difficult to eradicate. One such enduring myth attributes the longevity and the socio-racial policies of Porfirio Díaz, president of Mexico 1876-1880 and, without further interruption, 1884-1911, to the power and influence of a tightly-knit group of intellectuals, businessmen, publicists, and statesmen, known collectively as ‘The Scientists’. Their fundamental goal, according to traditional historiography, was to modernise Mexico by applying to its socio-political structures the ideas of the French Positivist Auguste Comte, and those of the English philosopher Herbert Spencer, who preceded Charles Darwin in defining the concept of evolution. This article seeks to question the extent to which ‘The Scientists’ were a cohesive and powerful group. It also demonstrates, on the basis of a re-reading of what Spencer actually wrote as opposed to the interpretations placed upon his work by Social Darwinists, that both they and subsequent commentators misunderstood Spencerian ideas

Epistemology · Historiography · Humanities · Mythology · Political science · Politics · Positivism · Social science · Sociology · Classics · History · History and Politics in Latin America · Indigenous Cultures and Socio-Education · Latin American Cultural Politics · Law · Philosophy

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