Cosmology and the segred in the guarani knowledge production

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the process of knowledge production in the Mbya Guarani society, enlightening the cosmological foundations that uphold their way of thinking about and explaining the world, as well as the historicity of its people as a whole. Assuming that the Guarani society is logos-centered and that mitology serves as its memory’s archive, one of the central questions of this study concerns the constituent hierarchy between cosmological and historical time which, according to the structure of the Guarani way of thinking, is essential for understanding how they relate to the world. One of the main arguments invoked in this paper derives from the hypothesis that, given Guarani people’s singular connection with the sacred order, truth or truthful knowledge can only be established when submitted to criteria resulting from the cosmological or sacred sphere.