Da racionalidade moderna à racionalidade neoliberal: permanências e mudanças na colonialidade

Abstract

We begin with an investigation into neoliberalism from the historical context of coloniality in the reality of Latin America. To do this, we trace the path from understanding the formation of modern rationality in parallel with the phenomenon of coloniality to the formation of neoliberal rationality and the innovations and continuities it presents for maintaining Latin American colo niality. Thus, the problem question we seek to answer is as follows: “To what extent can we think of neoliberal rationality as a contemporary mechanism for exercising coloniality in parallel with the idea of modern rationality?” To answer this question, we divided the thesis into three sections, with three specific objectives that serve as stages of the research. The first section had the specific objective of verifying whether it is possible to bring together the critical studies developed by Enrique Dusse l and Michel Foucault regarding the phenomenon of Modernity, based on the hypothesis that this would be possible considering that both adopt a theoretical position that starts from the condition of the excluded and is oriented towards meeting their basic m aterial needs, whose theoretical methodological bases come from Marxism and historical materialism. The second section aimed to investigate how contemporary neoliberal rationality operates from the perspective of Michel Foucault and contemporary philosophe rs who follow his studies, guided by the hypothesis that it simultaneously shows itself as both a continuation and an innovation compared to neoliberal rationality. Finally, in the last section, our objective was to regionalize the discussions on neolibera l rationality in order to answer the question: what are the impacts of neoliberal policies on Latin American subjectivities? In this sense, our hypothesis was that neoliberalism exerts a super domination over Latin American subjects, that is, as marginaliz ed in the global geopolitics, neoliberal policies impose an “extra” or double exploitation on these subjects, reinforcing the practical horizons of modern coloniality and inaugurating new ones, such as the coloniality of the psyche, as per the studies of N ora Merlin. The methods used in the research were Michel Foucault’s genealogical method, which positioned us in the search to understand why power relations operate in a certain way; and Dussel’s analectic method, which placed us in the discussion as the e xcluded and marginalized Other, with experiences in a position of absolute exteriority. By achieving these three objectives, we hypothesized that neoliberal rationality is an unfolding of modern rationality and, consequently, of coloniality, proposing an a lternative rupture with the individualist model of neoliberal reason through the development of the notion of the common and the resumption of political participation by subjects. Therefore, we combine Michel Foucault’s critical reading with Enrique Dussel ’s, along with the latter’s experience of the neoliberal experiment in Latin America. Furthermore, we add to them the studies of contemporary critical authors, such as Nora Merlin and Dardot and Laval, to think about ways of breaking with this economic, po litical, and social model that operates through the exclusion and subjugation of subjects who are on the margins.