Ariel and Caliban in the Secular State: Modernism, Secularization, and Discourse Ethics in José Enrique Rodó's "Liberalism and Jacobinism"

Abstract

José Enrique Rodó's polemical "Liberalismo y jacobinismo" is an outstanding reference which illustrates the intensity of the participation of Latin American modernistas in the debates on secularization; it also shows the tension between the two modernities outlined by M. Calinescu. Making recourse to Junger Habermas' and Apel's ethic of discourse and to several theoreticians of secularization, this article attempts to show how the conversation between Rodó and his contemporaries is unfruitful but simultaneously ends up confirming the relevance of the secularization process when defining the modernista crisis as well as the tensions between both modernities.