Sobre el héroe como figura legitimadora de los valores de la ilustración. Estrategias de producción, cambios y desacuerdos

Abstract

During the eighteenth century’s periods of political insecurity, writers and rulers supported a whole series of arguments aimed at constructing civilizing heroes who are sacrificed for the benefit of the country, society and the «common good.» This article analyses the different strategies and forms through which an enlightened heroism proliferated in the second half of the century and that were in a constant process of being defined. After reviewing the historical coordinates and the debates within which the creation of new heroes unfolded, and without neglecting another type of heroism—that inherited from humanist culture—I will specifically focus on the conquistadores of the Americas, who were subjected to European intellectuals’ critiques. Heroism worked as a propaganda instrument to establish a positive image of the country—one capable of binding collective and individual identities and, at the same time, of embodying the nation’s modernity and progress. The hero allows us to understand eighteenth-century society’s prevailing political values and controversies regarding masculinity and civilization, whose meanings were always far from singular or stable.