The ego conquiro as the beginning of modernity

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate the elements that characterize the ego conquiro, i.e. a "pre-modern" subject. The analysis is based on the fact of the conquest of America by Europeans. The objective of the conquest is to acquire territories, and at the same time, to colonize the indigenous people of America not only physically, but also ideologically. This theme corresponds to one of the aspects that make up Enrique Dussel's philosophy of liberation. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the constitution of the conquiro ego is the starting point, the beginning of the process of constitution of the victimizer as a subject. It is of vital importance, in order to address the liberation of the victim, to talk about how the victimizer is constituted as a subject from the dialectic of domination. The rationality of the conquering ego generates practices that lead to the generation of victims. The article will be developed in four parts. The first part explains what the process of constitution of the ego conquiro consists of. The second part refers, as a consequence of this process, to the dialectic relation discovery-discovery of the other that forces us to ask ourselves about the rationality-irrationality dialectic. The third raises the problem of colonization and Eurocentrism as elements of the ego conquiro. Finally, the Conclusion will gather the affirmations worked on and will focus on the critique of Enrique Dussel's affirmation: "the ego conquiro is the beginning of modernity".