América Latina y la creativa complejidad moderna

Abstract

The article examines how Latin America is a constitutive part of modernity, having served since its “discovery” as both a material and imaginary space that enabled the expansion of the modern project, defined by the tension between emancipatory reason and instrumental rationality. Romero argues that modernity arises from the rupture with tradition and the fragmentation of the subject between nature and freedom, but its historical development became subordinated to capitalism, which privileged instrumental reason and deepened inequalities in the distribution of cultural achievements. Latin America, however, was not only an economic support for European capitalism but also a utopian space that nourished modern emancipatory ideals, and today faces the challenge of reconnecting theory and praxis to assert its place within a globalized and complex modernity.