Los principios comunes entre la Ley de Instrucción Primaria Obligatoria en Chile y la Masonería

Abstract

Freemasonry, as a social organization whose historical origin and ideological support can be found in the Enlightenment, includes a series of principles and values that during the 19th century were part of the liberal, positivist demands that shaped the nascent Latin American democracies. These values and principles are represented by progressivism, secularism, the confidence that science will bring relief to the suffering of humanity and the relevance given to education as the method that will achieve the emancipation of peoples. The most radical political currents raised, during that period, compulsory primary instruction as a public policy that could serve that purpose, and the Masonic lodges served as an incubator for social leaders who saw, among one of their greatest achievements, the promulgation of the Law of Compulsory Primary Instruction.