Juan ignacio molina y la comprensión de la naturaleza del finis terrae. un acercamiento desde la historia (cultural) de la ciencia

Abstract

The study of the work of the Chilean Jesuit Juan Ignacio Molina (1740-1829), especially since the Chilean historiography, has accused an important criticism myopia about of the naturalist that constantly has been considered, with fairly light weight, as the ''first Chilean scientist''. The fundamental importance of exile as a scientific vocation, the European controversies about the New World and the institutional conditions and political mechanisms that allowed the development of scientific knowledge in late eighteenth century are elements that have not been integrated into the analysis of the work of the naturalist Chilean who came to integrate the Bologna Academy of Sciences. Therefore, the proposed historical analysis of this article seeks to break the apologetic historiography in order to present the work and figure of the Chilean Jesuit in a broad historical context, in an attempt to provide alternative answers, shows part of the political and epistemological problems that influenced the development of scientific thought of the Chilean naturalist.