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Discourses of the Elders

The Aztec Huehuetlatolli A First English Translation

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1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"A dazzlingly fresh take on universal themes.... [B]ursting with practical wisdom." —Skye C. Cleary, author of How to Be Authentic

A philosophy grounded not in a transcendent divinity, afterlife, or individualism, but in a rooted communal life.

Western philosophers have long claimed that God, if such a being exists, is a personal force capable of reason, and that the path to a good human life is also the path to a happy one. But what if these claims prove false, or at least deeply misleading? The Aztecs of central Mexico had a rich philosophical tradition, recorded in Latin script by Spanish clergymen and passed down for centuries in the native Nahuatl language—one of the earliest transcripts being the Huehuetlatolli, or Discourses of the Elders, compiled by Friar Andrés de Olmos circa 1535.

Novel in its form, the Discourses consists of short conversations between elders and young people on how to achieve a meaningful and morally sound life. The Aztecs had a metaphysical tradition but no concept of "being." They considered the mind an embodied force, present not just in the brain but throughout the body. Their core values relied on collective responsibility and group wisdom, not individual thought and action, orienting life around one's actions in this realm rather than an afterlife, distinctly opposed to the Christian beliefs that permeate Europe and America.

Sebastian Purcell's fluency in his grandmother's native Nahuatl brings to light the Aztec ethical landscape in brilliant clarity. Never before translated into English in its entirety, and one of the earliest post-contact texts ever recorded, Discourses of the Elders reflects the wisdom communicated by oral tradition and proves that philosophy can be active, communal, and grounded not in a "pursuit of happiness" but rather the pursuit of a meaningful life.

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    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2023

      A specialist in Latin American philosophy, SUNY-Cortland professor Purcell offers the first full translation of Discourses of the Elders, an important Aztec document comprising conversations between elders and young people on attaining a meaningful life and recorded in Latin script by Spanish clergymen. Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      June 15, 2023
      The first English translation of a key text of Aztec philosophy. In the eyes of Mexico's Spanish conquerors, the Aztec or Nahua people were idolaters. A friar named Andr�s de Olmos (circa 1485-1571) was more sympathetic; renowned in his day for his mastery of the Nahuatl language, he took an interest in what these people actually thought. Purcell, a philosophy professor at SUNY-Cortland, works with Olmos' text, begun in 1535, to produce a work that will remind some readers of the principal Confucian texts in their "virtue ethics"--though with an emphasis less on individual comportment than the instruction of the group to arrive at proper decisions. There is both an element of exoticism to the text and many important philosophical insights. As Purcell notes, "the Nahuas reason that all our actions are subject to an impressive degree of luck, so that whether those actions go well or poorly is often beyond our individual control." Most of the pieces in this collection are instructions reminding well-bred (and probably well-born) young people of how to live with humility and in service to society. "Do not best people with your words and so cut off their speech," reads one dictum. "Do not talk unkindly to people, do not make them forget or fail to conserve those words which are good." Instructions to young women give them slightly less room to roam: "Take charge of the spindle, the weaving tablet....In that way you will deserve a bit of atole, a folded tortilla, some greens, some cactus." Purcell does a good job teasing out the Christian elements that Olmos may have inserted in an earlier example of syncretism, and while his discussion of Nahuatl grammar in relation to these texts can be a touch daunting--e.g., when he describes the language as "maximally omnipredicative"--the book reads fluently. A strong contribution to our understanding of an important tradition of Indigenous ethics.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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