Eugenio María de Hostos

Eugenio María de Hostos y Bonilla (born January 11, 1839 in Mayagüez , † August 11, 1903 in Santo Domingo ) was a Puerto Rican educator and writer.

life and work

De Hostos studied law in Bilbao and Madrid, where he got to know representatives of Krausismo , which decisively shaped his philosophical, pedagogical and political views. He was a supporter of the First Spanish Republic and after its fall in 1874 joined the New York junta Revolucionaria Cubana , whose magazine he published La Revolución . He later headed the Colegio Nacional de Asunción in Venezuela and founded the Escuela Normal in Santo Domingo , where he taught from 1879 to 1888. Between 1889 and 1899 he also worked as a teacher in Chile. De Hostos died of an infection in Santo Domingo at the age of 64 and was buried (as the only Puerto Rican) in the Dominican Panteón de los Héroes Nacionales .

Influenced by Krausismo , de Hostos represented liberal ideas. He campaigned for the independence of Cuba and the Antilles and a united South America as well as for minority rights and equal rights for women. In addition to a completed novel ( La peregrinación de Bayoán ), two unfinished novels and lyrical works such as the poem El nacimiento del Nuevo Mundo , de Hostos wrote essays on ethical, sociological, legal and literary topics as well as didactic writings.

Sociological work

In his legal sociological Tratado de sociología (1904) and in the 15 lessons of the Resumen de la sociología (written since 1880) he postulated that social processes fit into a natural law or natural law framework. The social and moral are also components of universal nature, which does not rule out the possibility that individuals behave in a selfish and disorganized manner. The task of sociology is to discover the forces that make common sense ( ser colectivo ) stronger than individual interests to such an extent that both are in harmony. The organs of the living being of society include family, community, region, nation and state, which are not static, but are in constant change and should come into balance. The fatherland is always the starting point of the life journey of individuals.

In the context of an anti-colonialist movement directed against slavery and the annexation plans of the USA, which, however, was confronted with racist negrophobic supporters of Hispanidad and thus rapprochement with the motherland as well as supporters of annexation by the USA, this meant specifically the demand for a liberal one national constitution and at the same time the strengthening of a Pan-Caribbean or Latin American identity.

swell

Individual evidence

↑ Adriana Arpini: La "Sociología" de Eugenio María de Hostos . On cervantesvirtual.com, undated, accessed on 26 October of 2019.

personal data
SURNAME	Hostos, Eugenio María de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Hostos y Bonilla, Eugenio María de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Puerto Rican writer and educator
DATE OF BIRTH	January 11, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mayagüez
DATE OF DEATH	August 11, 1903
Place of death	Santo Dolmingo

[1] Adriana Arpini: La "Sociología" de Eugenio María de Hostos . On cervantesvirtual.com, undated, accessed on 26 October of 2019.