Vida y obras de eugenio espejo blanco

On the other hand, the few who could enter the university were given an education which was heavily theoretical and used memorization as the primary learning technique. As a result, the intellectual people in Quito—most of whom were clerical—had affected manners when expressing themselves, while having no new ideas. Furthermore, in only two medical doctors were available in Quito, of which one was Espejo; the majority of people who fell ill were helped by curanderos.

Because of this, a person's dignity and honor could be damaged by racial prejudices. A slackening of social customs occurred on all social levels; extramarital relationships and illegitimate children were common. This explained the abundance of the clergy in a small city like Quito; often men were ordained not because of a vocation but because it solved their economic problems and improved their community standing.

However, some historians, especially Carlos Freile Granizo , argue that contemporary documents imply that Espejo's mother was white; for instance, his parents' marriage was recorded in the book for white marriages as they were deemed as criollos , and the birth certificates of Espejo and his siblings were entered in the same book.

Juan Pablo was born in ; he studied with the Dominicans and served as a priest in various parts of the Audiencia of Quito. He instructed himself in medicine by working alongside his father at the Hospital de la Misericordia. According to Espejo, he learned "by experience, which cannot be known without studying with pen in hand. Overcoming racial discrimination, he graduated from medical school on July 10, , and shortly afterwards graduated in jurisprudence and canon law having studied law under Dr.

On August 14, , he asked for permission to practice medicine in Quito, and it was granted on November 28, Between and , Espejo provoked the colonial authorities, who regarded him as responsible for several satirical and mocking posters. These posters were attached to the doors of churches and other buildings, and their anonymous author tended to attack the colonial authorities, the clergy or any other subject he deemed convenient.

Although no surviving posters have been found, evidence from comments Espejo made in his writings suggests that he wrote them. This work imitated the satire of Lucian , and was especially unsympathetic to the Jesuits. It showed the culture of its author, who lived in the isolated and intellectually backward city of Quito. El Nuevo Luciano de Quito was written in dialogues, in order to present his ideas to the common people in an easy way, instead of using tedious explanations meant for scholars.

The use of a pseudonym, a common practice in Europe and the Americas during the Age of Enlightenment , was important to Espejo. Not only did it provide anonymity , it attempted to remove any hint of his crossbreeding in a culture which granted any white person importance and prestige. His pseudonym implied that he had white or European relatives in his mother's lineage.

Beginning in , Espejo continued writing satires against the government of the Audiencia, stirred by the condition of society. In he wrote La ciencia blancardina , which he referred to as the second part of Nuevo Luciano , as an answer to the criticism of a Mercedarian priest from Quito. Espejo tried to decline the appointment, and after that failed, he tried unsuccessfully to flee.

His arrest order details one of the few remaining physical descriptions of him. In , he was asked by the cabildo town council to write about smallpox , the worst medical problem the Audiencia faced. This work is a valuable historical source as a description of the hygienic and sanitary conditions of colonial America. On his way to Lima , he stopped in Riobamba , where a group of priests asked him to write a reply to a report written by Ignacio Barreto, chief tax collector.

The report accused the priests of Riobamba of various abuses against the Indians in order to take their money. In March , he continued his attack against his enemies from Riobamba with a series of eight satirical letters which he called Cartas riobambenses. On August 24, , Villalengua requested that Espejo either to go to Lima or return to Quito to occupy a post in the government, [ 24 ] and subsequently arrested him.

Espejo successfully defended himself on the charges against him, and on October 2, , he was set free. On December 2 he was notified he could return to Quito. In the same year, he became director of the first public library, the National Library, originally established with the forty thousand volumes left by the Jesuits after their expulsion from Ecuador.

The main duty of the Society was improving the city of Quito. Its 24 members came together weekly to discuss agricultural, educational, political and social problems and to promote the physical and natural sciences. Through this newspaper liberal ideas , already somewhat known in other parts of Hispanic America , were spread among the people of Quito.

On November 11, , Charles IV dissolved the society. Espejo had no choice but to work as a librarian in the National Library. Because of his liberal ideas, he was imprisoned [g] on January 30, , being allowed to leave his cell only to treat his patients as a doctor and, on December 23, to die at his home from the dysentery he acquired during his imprisonment.

His death certificate was registered in the book for Indians, mestizos, blacks and mulattoes. Eugenio Espejo was an autodidact , and he claimed with pride that he never left any book in his hands unread, and if he did, he would make up for it by observing nature. However, his desire to read everything indiscriminately sometimes led him to hasty judgments, which appear in his manuscripts.

He understood that reading was basic in the formation of the self, and his conscience drove him to critiques of the establishment, based on observation and in the application of the law of his time. By his writing, Espejo wanted to educate the people and to awaken a rebellious spirit in them. He embraced equality between Indians and criollos, an ideal that was ignored during the future processes of autonomy.

He never traveled abroad but nonetheless understood the relation between microorganisms and the spreading of disease. When he was arrested, it was rumored that his detention resulted from his support of the "impieties" of the French Revolution. The accusation of impiety was calculated to incite popular hatred against him. Espejo never lost his faith in Catholicism throughout his lifetime.

He condemned the decadence of the clergy, but he never criticized the Church itself. The goal of Espejo's first three works was the intellectual improvement of Quito. El Nuevo Luciano de Quito ridiculed the outdated educational system maintained by the clergy. Espejo argued that the people of Quito were accustomed to adulation and that they admired any preacher who could quote the Bible in a pompous and insubstantial way.

La ciencia blancardina , in which Espejo claimed to be the author of the previous two works, condemned the results of the clergy's educational system: ignorance and affectation. Through these three books, Espejo advanced the ideas of European and American scholars such as Feijoo and the Jesuits Verney and Guevara, among others. As a result, many religious orders modified their educational programs.

Espejo resented the pseudointellectuals who misled the thought of the city of Quito, disregarding people who were actually knowledgeable. Espejo particularly criticized the Jesuits for, among other things, teaching ethics not as a science but as a guide to good manners and for their adoption of Probabilism as a moral guide. As a result, the priests had no real idea of their duties towards society and God and had little inclination to study.

In El Nuevo Luciano de Quito , he lamented the large number of quacks who pretended to be doctors. In La ciencia blancardina he continued his attack on these quacks while attacking clerics who worked as physicians without adequate medical education. The letter showed a profound knowledge of theology and dogma. It analyzed the historical beginnings of indulgences and their development and cited decrees and bulls written about abuses of indulgences.

Once more, this work showed its author's deep knowledge of this religious subject and his appreciation of its standing in the 18th century. The Immaculate Conception was not formally decreed as dogma until Espejo also wrote a series of sermons, which were notable in their simplicity. Starting in , Espejo took an interest in the welfare of his community and the prosperity of Quito.

Vida y obras de eugenio espejo blanco

His works between that year and clearly show the influence of Enlightenment philosophers, whose ideas Espejo adapted to local conditions. As many thinkers realized the power of economics as a social force, Espejo, influenced by Feijoo and Adam Smith among others, showed his desire for commercial and agricultural reforms, especially conservation and proper use of land.

To advance these ideas, he founded the Escuela de la Concordia School of Concord. His Voto de un ministro togado de la Audiencia de Quito and Memorias sobre el corte de quinas rejected a proposed monopoly of quinine production by the Crown intended to prevent the destruction of the cinchona tree and to expand the Royal Treasury's income. Memorias was dedicated to Fernando Cuadrado, who opposed the monopoly.

Espejo divided his cinchona study into four parts. In the first, he argued that the monopoly would leave workers without jobs and that it would mean the loss of capital invested in cinchona trees. In the second part, he made a number of suggestions, such as developing certain "natural" products of a region with the aim of exporting them.

For instance, in Chile the production of wines should be prioritized, in Argentina the production of leather, and so forth. In the third part he showed that many workers benefited from the quinine industry, that without it there would be unemployment and unrest, and that the Crown should designate officials to regulate the proper cultivation of the cinchona tree, including reforestation.

In the fourth part he made recommendations, such as the need to repress indigenous hostility in the cinchona tree region. His Defensa de los curas de Riobamba was written in response to a report from Ignacio Barreto that accused the clergy in Riobamba of various unethical practices. Among other things, the report said that the large number of religious celebrations in Riobamba frequented by Indians were prejudicial to Catholic faith, agriculture, industry and the interests of the Crown; also, that priests demanded money from the Indians for entrance into churches and for certain ceremonies, that priests in Riobamba were immoral and finally that most sermons were incomprehensible to the Indians.

Espejo attacked Barreto's report in three ways. First, he claimed that Barreto, supposed author of the report, was not capable of writing it. Then he argued that the allegations were exaggerated semi-truths or outright lies. And finally he claimed that the economic problems of Quito could not be solved by exploiting its human resources the Indians but by planning and taking advantage of the natural resources of the region.

Espejo realized that the charges against the clergy were so serious that he had to focus on destroying Barreto's credibility. Therefore, he implied that Barreto's own conduct was outrageous because of his excesses in collecting taxes and his habit of paying public funds to licentious women. El Nuevo Luciano de Quito ridiculizaba el sistema educativo anticuado preservado por el clero.

Por lo tanto, Espejo aseguraba que el contenido el informe no era fiable. Aparentemente, en esta obra Espejo no estaba tan enfocado en analizar el caso y defender al clero de Riobamba, como en atacar a sus enemigos personales. Todo esto como preludio para su objetivo principal: negar ser el autor de El Retrato de Golilla. Espejo es considerado el precursor del movimiento independentista de Quito.

La cual como era de esperarse fue una postura bastante atacada por la iglesia, a pesar de su considerable razonamiento. Contenidos mover a la barra lateral ocultar. Leer Editar Ver historial. Herramientas Herramientas. En otros proyectos. Wikimedia Commons Elemento de Wikidata. Actividades en la Real Audiencia [ editar ]. Obra como polemista [ editar ].

Breve exilio [ editar ]. Personalidad [ editar ]. Pensamiento [ editar ]. Obra como abogado [ editar ]. Legado [ editar ]. Listado de sus obras [ editar ]. Resumen de sus Obras [ editar ]. La Ciencia Blancardina [ editar ]. Cartas riobambenses [ editar ]. Discurso de la Escuela de la Concordia [ editar ]. Memorias sobre el corte de quinas [ editar ].

Primicias de la Cultura de Quito [ editar ]. Defensa de los curas de Riobamba [ editar ]. Referencias [ editar ]. Consultado el 7 de enero de Eugenio Espejo y Su Tiempo. Ecuador: Abya Yala. ISBN