The “Theory of Brazil” of the brazilian orthodox positivists: ethnic composition and national independence

Abstract

It is possible to define as a “theory of Brazil” the conceptions held by some author or by some political-intellectual group on the history and the structure of Brazilian society and State, as well as on their mutual relations; those conceptions usually are assembled in the academic area of the “Brazilian Social-Political Thought”. In this sense, the Brazilian Orthodox Positivists – those filliated to the Brazilian Positivist Church, mainly Miguel Lemos and Raimundo Teixeira Mendes – had their “theory of Brazil”. Althought there are some studies concerning some aspects of Positivists’ ideas and actions (as on the fight against slavery), there is a particularly important gap in the specialized literature, concerning the Positivist “theory of Brazil”. So, the present article deals with such theme, presenting in particular Brazilian Positivists’ ideas on (1) the Brazilian ethnical formation and (2) the socio-political condition that led to Brazilian national independence, in 1822; to do so, some texts written by Teixeira Mendes were analyzed. Formerly, some elements of Comtean political doctrine will be exposed; on the other hand, in the final session of this article, will be made some considerations on the intellectual-political importance of the positivists in Brazil and in the academic field of “Brazilian Social-Political Thought”.