Clavijero’s Perception of the America and American’s from the exile perspective

Abstract

This article focuses on the signficance of the Mexican Jesuit Generation of 1750, which was exiled to Italy after the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from New Spain in 1767, as illustrated in the writings of the Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero. It attempts to show the openmindedness of this group towards modern and enlightened ideas that they combined with the scholastic tradition. This was facilitated by the use of eclecticism that had come to characterize Jesuit thought since the sixteenth century but that was assuming singular shape in the”Century of Lights.”