Columbus and the Hermeneutics of Pragmatic Materialism

In The Conquest of America, Tvetzan Todorov makes the claim that, "Columbus does not succeed in his human communications because he is not interested in them" (33). While Todorov repeatedly proved this to be the case via the analysis of multiple journal entries, to dismiss Columbus as uninterested in human communications sweeps away far too many questions to be considered a wise move on Todorov's part. Instead, we ought to examine communications across the range of Christopher Columbus's interests: human, nature, and divine.

Todorov later states that, "the readiness with which he alienates the other's goodwill with a view to a better knowledge of the islands he is discovering; the preference for land over men. In Columbus's hermeneutics human beings have no particular place" (33). By so doing, Todorov has revealed the source of his dissatisfaction with Columbus's actions: it is not that human beings have no place, but that human beings are treated as inexpendable, elastic, and without a static place in the explorer's hermeneutics. In Columbus's hermeneutics, which stem in part from his mission (to acquire gold) and his belief (in doing such things for the greater glory of God), nature and the divine repeatedly take precedence over and displace human beings. As such, Columbus could be likened to a sort of spiritual materialist. Furthermore, his method involves a pragmatic manipulation of the signs. Much like the Aztecs, for whom everything that happened was predestined by, Columbus twisted the signs of events to suit his needs. Mentioning gold for example, and interpreting signs (correctly or not) as being indicative of nearby land, were just two ways in which the explorer quashed dissent and unrest. In fact, that is how Columbus even received the opportunity for his voyages in the first place: by luring Ferdinand and Isabella with tales of riches from the Indies. And because Columbus had a hierarchical order of communications, with humans taking on a Machiavellian means to justify Columbus's desired ends: land (and thus riches), prestige, and glory to God.

Reading The Conquest of America after The Sparrow makes sense a lot of sense. In many ways, Father Sandoz and Christopher Columbus are one and the same. Both men are deeply religious. Both men are inspired by both the divine and nature, and find the divine in nature. Both men are intellectually curious, and have a penchant for languages (although Sandoz has a clear advantage over Columbus in this arena). And almost most importantly, the motto Ad maiorem Dei Gloriam could be applied to each men. I say most importantly in that, at least in Father Sandoz's hierarchy of communications, there exists a place for human beings. Todorov, while he would still fault Sandoz for failing to recognize the other's goodwill, would praise Sandoz for, unlike Columbus, approaching the other without authority or condescension. Todorov would recognize that, within Sandoz's hermeneutics, there is a place for human beings that is not always overridden by a desire to explore nature or know the divine.