HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESS: REFLECTIONS ON THE PHENOMENON OF DOMINATION BETWEEN PEOPLES AND CULTURES WITHIN WESTERN THOUGHT

Abstract

This article is a theoretical reflection on ideas related to processes of domination elaborated throughout the 19th century by certain European nations, which influenced and guided the concepts of human development and progress in the capitalist West. For this purpose, it analyzes the theoretical production of authors who, either in the scientific field or that of economic and cultural relations, have examined a specific conception of human development and progress which was ultimately used to legitimate and naturalize domination and exploitation mechanisms, as employed by some Western European nations in their relations with other cultures, especially in Africa and the Americas. It also discusses the issue of human development by highlighting 19th century formulations, elaborated in the wake of modern science. Such exercise aims to update and complexify the debate around domination between Western European countries and other cultures, whose effects can be felt to this day.