Refórmese el gobierno, y los individuos ¿también se reformarán? Venezuela (1808-1830): Un estudio de caso para la teoría operativa del significado

The analytical framework outlined in a previous work —namely, an operative theory of meaning— is put to test in the case of the 19th century Venezuela. Reading the literature of the emancipation time, it is possible to find a discursive layer which most fundamental concept is ‘nature’. By researching the history of this concept a constitutive difference between generation and degeneration is detected. Furthermore, this opposition appears to be a part of the semantic network that also includes other key contradistinctions such as ‘to be’ / ‘not to be’, ‘body’ ‘soul’ and ‘reason’ / ‘passion’: taken together, they structure the semantic field of ‘nature’. This field is codified in several ways and encompasses many discourses, from which we specifically choose, firstly, a political codification of communication (based on the evolving of literary tradition) and, secondly, the so-called reformation discourse intertwined with other discursive traditions such as natural law, political science, republicanism and constitutionalism. The self-referential structure of the latter is revealed in its circularity: the government reforms the individuals and the individuals reform the government. Finally, it is shown how this reformation discourse made possible thinking of independence, framing a notion of republic and articulating opposinginterests and aspirations concerning the governance of Venezuela.