Incas filósofos: una aproximación a la figura del amauta en la obra de Garcilaso de la Vega y Guaman Poma

Abstract

When Garcilaso de la Vega and Guaman Poma affirmed the existence of preColumbian “philosophers”, they were reflecting, in advance, on a possible philosophy beyond the limits of the West. This article, based on a reading of the Comentarios reales and the Nueva corónica, attempts to provide some insights into the understanding that both Andean writers had of pre-Columbian philosophy. Since both texts show a strong Hispanic influence, we cannot find in them a reliable vision of the ancient “philosophers”, but their proto-ethnographic descriptions implicitly carry a resemantization of the term amauta. Likewise, I will point out the contributions of Garcilaso and Guaman Poma to the understanding of a philosophical attitude different from the one canonised by the West.