Resumen

VELAZQUEZ, Pedro A.. Paths of Knowledge: The Personal Diaries of Agustín M. Chávez (Engineer). Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2012, vol.33, n.132bis, pp.223-263. ISSN 2448-7554.

Personal diaries are more closely associated with women due to their private character and because they function as a refuge for the freedom of expression that society denies them; similar references might be found for some men, though their diaries are normally more like supporting documents in that they often take the form of a kind of work "log". Bronislaw Malinowski's personal diaries are an excellent example of this. But the diaries of the engineer Agustín M. Chávez offer a new meaning and focus, for he used them in both ways: for personal matters, including work, assessed through statistical criteria in a strict, ethical, self-determined context and his elaboration of a complicated symbolic system that helped him represent three conditions. This "Method of Living", as he called it, allowed him to systematize not only his discoveries, but also his thoughts and personal behavior. The documental sources are from his private archives: missives and the diaries themselves, which cover the period from 1872-to-1902.

Palabras llave : Science; inventor; positivism; method of living; personal diaries.