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Some Neglected Spanish Social Thinkers*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

T. Lynn Smith
T. Lynn Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
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Extract

The important role in world affairs played by Spain during the period from the fifteenth century through the nineteenth contrasts sharply with the utter neglect of the writings and theories of great Spanish scholars by those who have written about the development of social thought in western civilization. Almost never has the present writer seen a reference to the work of any Spaniard by those who have prepared the compendia dealing with the history of social and sociological theories which are in general use as texts and references in colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada. This neglect seems to be paralleled in the writings of most European sociologists; and even in Latin America there appears to be little familiarity with the work of important Spanish social thinkers, exception made of the comparatively recent writings of José Ortega y Gasset.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , July 1960 , pp. 37 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1960

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Footnotes

*

The author is indebted to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for the grant which made it possible for him to spend the summer of 1954 in the Iberian Peninsula and to begin his endeavors to gain an understanding of the peoples and institutions of Spain and Portugal. With the exception of that pertaining to the Laws of the Indies, the work begun then is the basis for this article. This study is still in its preliminary stages. A few of the results are published at this time, however, in order to call attention to the importance of the topic and, it is hoped, to assist in eliminating one of the serious “ blind spots ” in the study of the history of social thought.

References

1 See Ticknor, George, History of Spanish Literature, Fourth American Edition (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1891), 3, 321 note.Google Scholar

2 For an excellent summary account of the activities of the Council of the Indies, see Haring, C.H., The Spanish Empire in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1947), pp. 105–110.Google Scholar

3 Ibid., pp. 109–110.

4 A book-length volume in preparation.

5 On the evolution of property rights in land in Spain, see de Cárdenas, Francisco, Ensayo Sobre la Historia de la Propiedad Territorial en España (Madrid: Imprenta de J. Noguera, 1873)Google Scholar; Sempere, Juan y Guariños, , Historia de los Vínculos y Mayorazgos, segunda edicion (Madrid: Establecimiento Tipografico de D. Ramon Rodriguez de Rivera, 1847)Google Scholar; and Schulman, Sam, A Sociological Analysis of Land Tenure Patterns in Latin America (Ph.D. Thesis, unpublished) (Gainesville: University of Florida, 1954), Chapter III.Google Scholar

6 Dirección General de Agricultura, Industria, y Comercio, Memoria que Comprende los Antecedentes Reunidos, Trabajos, Practicados y Proyecto de Ley Formulados por la Comisión Nombrada para el Estudio de la Concentración Parcelaria (Madrid: Imprenta de los Hijos de M. G. Hernandez, 1908), p. 11.

7 Cf. Smith, T. Lynn, Sociology of Rural Life, third edition (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1953), pp. 277–278.Google Scholar

8 de Solorzano Pereyra, Juan, Política Indiana, Libro VI, Capítulo 12 (Madrid: Gabriel Ramirez, 1739).Google Scholar

9 Bourgoing, J.Fr., Modern State of Spain …, translated from the last Paris edition of 1807 (London: Printed for John Stockdale, n. d.), 1, 279–280.Google Scholar

10 A Journey Through Spain in the Years 1786 and 1787 … (London: Printed for C. Dilly, 1791), III, 72.

11 Ibid., II, 141

12 Ibid., II, 230–231.

13 Ibid., I, 243–244.

14 (Madrid: Imprenta de D. Antonio Sancha, n.d.), pp. 1–25. Other works by Campomanes, include Apendice a la Educación Popular (4 vols.; Madrid: Imprenta de D. Antonio Sancha, 1775–1777)Google Scholar; and Discurso Sobre el Fomento de la Industria Popular (Madrid: Imprenta de D. Antonio Sancha, 1774). He also published studies, so far unavailable to the present writer, entitled Disertaciones Sobre el Orden y Caballeria de los Templarios and Parecer Fiscal Sobre los Gitanos, and a wide variety of other essays upon social, economic, and historical subjects.

15 Cf. Juan Hurtado y J. de la Serna and Palencia, Angel Gonzalez, Historia de la Literatura Española, segunda edición (Madrid: Tip. de la “Revista de Arch., Bibl. y Museos,” 1925), pp. 839–840.Google Scholar

16 The present writer has used the second edition of this which was published in Madrid in 1820 by the Imprenta de I. Sancha.

17 Op. cit., III, 382.

18 See Smith, T. Lynn, “Land Tenure and Soil Erosion in Colombia,” in the Proceedings of the Inter-American Conference on Conservation of Renewable Natural Resources (Washington: Department of State, 1948), pp. 155–160.Google Scholar

19 Op. cit., p. 4.

20 Ibid., p. 6.

21 Ibid., pp. 6–7. See also pp. 19–21.