Federico García Godoy and his contribution to dominican philosophical thought

Abstract

The article examines the philosophical contributions made by Federico García Godoy between the late nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth. García Godoy stands out as a major Dominican interlocutor of the philosophical thought of Bergson, William James, and other influential figures. His flexible stance and persistent intellectual inquiry enabled him to construct an eclectic philosophical outlook which, together with his republican liberalism and his independent form of positivism, allowed him to theorize a considerable part of the problems and aspirations of Dominican society in his time. Notably, he took a firm position against the U.S. occupation of the country—an action he forcefully condemned in El derrumbe, a work censored and burned by the occupying forces. Although existing studies have focused primarily on García Godoy as a novelist and literary critic, it is necessary to approach him as a thinker who made significant contributions to philosophical discourse. He emerges as a critical intellectual who defended the dignity of the nation, despite his negative assessment of the Dominican people, in whose ethnic and cultural hybridity he perceived the fundamental cause of their longstanding social stagnation.