In this text, Leopoldo Zea outlines his vision for the future of Latin American philosophy, explaining how in order to be relevant it must be universally applicable and a product of the specific context of Latin America. Zea begins by arguing that philosophy, at the current moment (circa 1942), has become extremely relevant in the public milieu for the first time in Latin America and that this has occurred because of the widely perceived failure of European culture. He continues that one of the central questions with which Latin American philosophy is grappling involves the nature of the nexus between Latin American and European culture. Zea argues that the relationship of Latin Americans with European culture is contradictory and a huge problem for Latin American identity. Even though Latin Americans possess a “world view” that is similar to Europeans (they do not possess a pre-Columbian world view), they do not feel that European culture is their own. He traces such a dilemma to the fact that America has always been a product of European thought: “Europe needed America,” Zea explains, because when science eliminated the possibility of an ideal world in heaven, Europeans needed to find a new location for their idea of utopia. This has led Latin Americans to feel inferior because, assuming this European idea of America, they have not been able to fulfill its expectations. In order for Latin Americans to overcome their feelings of inadequacy, first, they must become “collaborators” in Western culture. The way they need to do this is to continue to work on the central abstract problems of Western philosophy (i.e. being, knowledge, God, etc.). Zea argues that issues such as these, which are considered “universal,” are also issues that have been considered from a Latin American context, reminding us that, even though presented as universal, European philosophy has always been based in specific cultural histories. It is the current imperative of Latin American philosophy to take on these issues with “the purpose of safekeeping the human essence: that which makes a man a man.” Ultimately, Zea states that Latin American philosophy must begin by pondering its own circumstances, but that it must expand its examination to broader abstract questions in order to be relevant within “universal culture.”