Pardo Reviews Pagden

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As to quantitative approaches, all authors are to be commended fortrying to give plausible figures, without succumbing to the antics of quantifiers, and for relating, whenever possible, figures of out-migra-

tion to total population. However, as is still common in the literature,the authors relate out-migration over a long periodfor example, acenturyto total population at one given point in time or over time.Since a century comprises about four generations, the average popula-tion has to be multiplied by generations if used as reference for anabsolute number of emigrants.

The essays are somewhat uneven in style and presentation of verycomplex detail. But this is to be expected in a multi-author volume,and without a collaborative effort such synthesis would not have been

possible. In this respect Europeans on the Move serves as a model. Theauthors met at a workshop to discuss their texts, expanded their per-spectives beyond emphasis on Atlantic migration, and commissionedadditional studies. The result is a highly informative work combiningan almost encyclopedic knowledge of the subject with the highest ana-lytical standards and synthesizing research of a decade or more in read-able fashion.

dirk hoerder Universitt Bremen

The Uncertainties of Empire: Essays in Iberian and Ibero-AmericanIntellectual History. By Anthony Pagden. London: Variorum,1994 . Pp. xvi + 280 . $87.50.

The Uncertainties of Empire, comprising sixteen articles spanningthree centuries, offers a comprehensive view of Anthony Pagdensnoteworthy contribution to the intellectual history of Spain and colo-nial America. Pagdens concise and thoughtful preface identifies two

important shortcomings in previous and current works on Latin Amer-ican intellectual history: the frequent assumption that the impact of European colonization in America is a perennial question, and thetendency to isolate cultural phenomena in the colonies from socialand ideological developments in the metropolis. The assimilation of the colonization of America by the Spaniards to other forms of colo-nialism has not further contributed to our understanding of the evolu-tion of Latin American societies. On the contrary, by projecting backupon the colonial experience of the sixteenth century many of the fea-

tures that belong to a later period, it has often distorted the uniquenessof Spanish colonial reality. Through careful attention to the language


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that informed the debates about the legitimacy of the Spanish pres-ence in America as well as the political ideas elaborated by criollosand peninsular Spaniards in the eighteenth century, Pagden provides a

compelling account of the tensions and continuities that marked therelationship between Spain and its colonies. 1The two opening articles present a penetrating analysis of the pop-

ular diffusion of Aristotles moral philosophy in Spain. This is a phe-nomenon essential to an understanding of a tradition that furnishedthe conceptual tools for the controversy about the legitimacy of Spainover American territories as well as for the debates about the status of the Amerindians. Pagden traces the diffusion of Aristotles moral trea-tises in the vernacular from the fifteenth century to its progressive

decline in the early sixteenth century, noting how these versions withtheir emphasis on practical virtue over abstract speculation appealedto the nobility. This popular tradition was replaced by a new type of moral literature rooted in the Catholic reform and the Erasmianmovement. Under the influence of humanism, Aristotles moral doc-trine moved into Castilian universities, especially Salamanca, whereFrancisco de Vitoria led the renewal of Thomism, a project carried onby his disciples. This latter strand of Aristotelianism, with the Politicsas its center, proved instrumental in the conceptualization of thenature and status of the Amerindians. I would add that the populartradition of Aristotles moral thought was very much alive in the writ-ings of missionaries and civilians occupied with the conversion andgovernance of the Indians.

Three essays touch upon the concept of ius naturae (natural law).Pagden sees in this concept, as elaborated by the school of Salamanca,a key to interpret the philosophical conservatism that allowed Spainto resist the challenges to the authority of tradition posed by the newphilosophy. Pagden recognizes the intellectual power demonstratedby theologians such as Vitoria in addressing a wide range of issues

related to the status of Indian subjects within the framework of naturallaw. However, his assertion that this principle sanctions as natural onlythe set of values and institutions identified with European civil societyseems too narrow a characterization. Beyond the restricted theologicaldomain, as seen in the writings of missionaries and civilians in Peruand Mexico, this concept helped to establish a basic level of equalitythat allowed the observers of Native Americans to identify sameness

1

Pagdens approach to intellectual history can be linked, in terms of both method andinterest, to the works of J. G. A. Pocock and Quentin Skinner.


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without losing sight of the diversity of their particular practices andsocial experiences, which were recognized in their own right. A pieceon cannibalism offers a concrete example of how Vitoria and Jos de

Acosta interpreted this practice in the light of ius naturae, an interpre-tation that led them to characterize Indian societies as deficient andtherefore in need of tutelage. Another essay takes up in a wider con-text the use of cannibalism in Europe.

In the eighteenth century the hegemony of scholasticism and theidea of ius naturae in Spanish universities hindered the reception anddevelopment of the new philosophy. The teachings of Ren Des-cartes and Pierre Gassendi were viewed as a direct attack on the prin-ciples of natural law and the unity of theology with the natural

sciences. This characterization seems to hold true for philosophicaland scientific inquiry. Pagdens account, however, does not address theimpact of the new philosophy on historiography, in which mattersrelated to the validity of traditions and the criteria to assert the truthwere indeed discussed in Spain and America alike. 2

A thought-provoking essay convincingly shows how HernnCorts in his second letter from Mexico, with its multiple allusions tothe notion of empire, sought to link the newly discovered territory tothe ideal of political unity invoked by a renewed European dream of auniversal monarchy. In describing Anahuac as an empire, Corts thusforged a political entity in accordance with the desire of Charles I toendow his title of Holy Roman Emperor with the political controlonce attached to it. Pagdens comment on the resonance of the Dona-tion of Constantine in Moctezumas speech on translatio imperii is aninsight into Cortss thought regarding the government and status of

New Spain.A lengthy essay on the formation of Latin American identity pro-

vides a sweeping picture of the emergence and consolidation of criollosociety and culture in Mexico and Peru by tracing the particular evolu-

tion of the alliances and rupturesboth real and imaginaryamongcriollos, Indians, and peninsulars from colonization to independence.Pagden succeeds in combining an attentive analysis of the differentconceptualizations of the relationship between the colonies and themetropolis as advanced by the criollos with a narrative that highlightsthe convergence of ethnic relations, economic growth, and the role of

2 Although he does not fully elaborate the thought, Pagden is aware of this in his com-

ment on Francisco Clavigero in Spanish Imperialism and the Political Imagination (NewHaven, 1990 ), chap. 4.


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the universities in shaping a society that could no longer think of itself in relation to the metropolis. This piece is complemented by an excel-lent essay on the state in eighteenth-century Spain and the role of the

idea of comercio libre in the debates on social and economic reform inthe Iberian peninsula and the colonies.Equally erudite are the pieces on the images of the savage and on

cultural diversity in European thought, as well as the short essay onattitudes toward the Spanish rule in Naples. This is solid scholarship of an analytical rigor that invites further inquiry.

osvaldo f. pardoUniversity of Vermont

Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens andthe Origins of Environmentalism, 16001860 . By Richard H.Grove. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995 . Pp. xiv+ 540 . $64.95.

Environmental doctrines and the advocacy of conservation werearticulated long before the mid-nineteenth century. The evidence thatstimulated them was gathered not only in Europe and North America,but also in remote corners of the globe that colonization had broughtto the attention of science and philosophy. This fresh insight is one of many in Richard Groves major new book, Green Imperialism, a workthat ought to change how the story of the early modern period inworld history is told.

Islands were particularly important in calling the attention of learned naturalists and scientists to the relationships among deforesta-tion, extinctions, desiccating climate, shortages of essential resources,disease, and famine. Oceanic islands were microcosms where processcould be seen more clearly. Because of their small size, islands reached

their limits more quickly, so that an observer could see changes in thelandscape during visits over the course of a few years or decades. Theimage of a lost Eden or spoiled paradise suggested itself to many of theEuropean savants who visited the islands, and they gave advice onhow to halt or reverse the course of destruction. Among the islandsdiscussed in the book are St. Helena, Ascension, and Mauritius on thesea route to India, and Tobago and St. Vincent in the eastern Carib-bean. In addition, Grove gives particular attention to India and to theCape area in South Africa. The Pacific is less central to his narrative,although he mentions the impression made on his central figures byTahiti and several of the other islands of the largest ocean.

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