Plato and the Guaranis: an analysis of Josep Parramás’ work in the light of European Renaissance utopias and Enlightenment theories on the New World

Abstract

This article analyzes the work Platón y los Guaraníes, written by the Jesuit, Joseph Perramás in 1793, after many years living among the Guaranis. It intends to establish a comparison between Perramás, some Renaissance utopias (More, Campanella) and especially some theories on the New World by European Enlightenment philosophers, published in the second half of the eighteenth century, whose presupposition and conclusion were the inferiority of the American continent in comparison with Europe. It argues that, although Perramás considered an opponent of the Enlightenment, he incorporated much of its reasoning and, in his defense of the Jesuit missions among the Guaranis, he is sophisticated enough to use the arguments of European authors against each other in order to better prove his own theory.

Keywords: Joseph Perramás, Guarani missions, dispute around the New World, Jesuits, Enlightenment.