Joseph Cataldini and the foundation of villages in Guayra for successive approaches: knowing understanding

Abstract

The foundations of reductions in the Guayra region followed a methodology based on the understanding of the way of being of indigenous groups. In this context there was absolute respect for the typologies of indigenous spaces and the pre-existing conformity of social hierarchies. This was made possible essentially by the understand-ing of Guarani language and that of the Gualachos or Ibirajaras. Understanding the meaning of a word could be the difference between life and death. The Jesuits and the Indians exchanged knowledge. The technological contribution was important, essential-ly the iron wedges. But it was also the implementation of agricultural techniques and, therefore, the realization of new crops such as sugar cane and cotton. To realize these innovations it was necessary to know the earth, the water and the plants. The introduc-tion of cattle with the provision of milk and the manufacture of butter and cheeses sub-stantially modified the diet. The construction of roads changed the structure of space. What was the ideology that supported the organization of space?
We think that there was a philosophy of conformation of the missionary space as a sum of places that can be linked with the ideas of Leibniz. Although this one broke in a few years later in the world of the ideas we maintain that some concepts of the metaphysics of the space of this author could be instrumented some years before in the formation of the Jesuits in the level of the noviciado or later. To continuously fold and unfold the subregions, that is what we call successive approximations. We will analyze these no-tions and the role of Father Joseph Cataldini in his conformation.