The First Explanation of Aztec Philosophy
Sebastian Purcell, The Outward Path: The Wisdom of the Aztecs (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, August, 2025). Softcover: $29.99. 288pp, 8 images, 5.5X8.25”. ISBN: 978-1-324-02056-1.
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“A practical and eye-opening guide to the Aztec philosophy on how to live. During the twilight decades of their empire, the learned ones among the Aztec filled numerous volumes with philosophical and ethical thought in testimony recorded by Spanish priests.” It is important that this blurb mentions that these beliefs were recorded by the invading Catholics, and thus might be a fiction that is presenting the Aztec in a negative light to explain why the Catholics were colonizing or subjugating the Aztec. “However, these have been largely overlooked and Westerners often see Aztec culture as a matter for history, anthropology, and archaeology—not the elevated realms of philosophy.” It “refers to the central insight that our true desire as human beings is not really for ‘happiness,’ a fleeting mood. No, what we really want is a rich and worthwhile life, which we can only achieve by pursuing an outward path of engagement with other people.” I searched inside for how this is handled. The first reference is to a “hand” “not” being able to “engage in reflective deliberation”: this is absurdly nonsensical. This follows a note about Horoshi Yoki designing an intelligent “hand” robot. This is mentioned on pages 38-9, or in the midst of the book, and it is entirely unrelated to the Aztec. Another mention of engaging appears in a mention of Rogoff’s study of “children of Mexican heritage” who “were found to be more likely to assist a teacher without being asked. In another, Guatemalan mothers were observed to engage in play with their children” (79). This is not useful information, and is mostly nonsensical. At the end of this section there is an explanation that such studies “highlight two key lessons from Aztec philosophy about how to live. First, if you wish to cultivate a rooted life, you must learn to collaborate more effectively… Second, while the Aztecs had a concept of moral ‘excellence’ or ‘virtue,’ their understanding of its practice differs significantly from that of many ‘Western’ philosophers…” “Performing ‘virtuous’ deeds… means that you are enacting a rooted life.” The lack of discussions on “virtue” in the colonizers’ texts proves these are likely to have been propaganda to make the Aztec seem un-virtuous. Explaining this philosophy extensively here proves nonsensical because what is being stated is not to the benefit of the people ascribed with this un-virtuousness.
“Wisdom is not a matter of ‘thinking for oneself,’ but comes through deliberating well in concert with others. Stoic and Buddhist philosophies will teach you to still your mind to address the outside world; but according to the Aztecs, we should cultivate healthy relationships first and then use those to forge a path forward. This ‘outward path’ offers an alternative to the presumptions of our highly individualistic, competitive Western culture, with its epidemic of loneliness and other social ills…” It “is the first book in any modern language to present the core ethical principles of the Aztecs. It not only takes a step to correct centuries of misrecognition but provides us with surprising insights about how to address concerns common to everyone, from how to make a good decision or strengthen your willpower, to how to sustain love and survive tragedy. Structured around twelve lessons and seven practical exercises, it’s an ethical workout routine designed to help you become a better person—one more deeply rooted and fulfilled.” These exercises are described to “similar to yoga” (82). These exercises address things such as “personal” and “social vulnerability practices” (106).
--Pennsylvania Literary Journal: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-summer-2025/

An Interesting and informative account of the philosophy of the Aztecs (Nahuas). I particularly appreciated the way historical, linguistic and cultural examples were skillfully interwoven with the philosophical ideas, so that readers got a comprehensives introduction to the cultural and intellectual world of the Aztecs.

It was also good to see referencing to modern philosophical concepts and comparisons with Aristotle, Stoicism and Eastern ideas. However, one surprising omission was the absence of comparisons with Christianity. The book talked about an Aztec worldview which expected people to slip up. That sounded vaguely like the Christian idea of original sin. It would have been interesting to know whether Aztec and Christian ideas overlapped on points like that.

Another welcome feature of the book is that it didn’t just describe Aztec ideas, it also tried to explore their implications. So, for example, the Aztec belief in a universal stuff which everything is made from (teotl) was explained as a version of Pantheism.

Sometimes the book had so much to say that I think it moved a little too fast. For example, it opened by informing readers that the Aztecs did not seek happiness, they pursued neltiliztli instead, or a ‘rootedness.’ Later, readers were informed that the Aztecs discussed happiness and had no less than 3 different words to analyse its concepts (paqui, ahuiya and huellamati). But why were they discussing concepts of happiness if Aztec philosophy was about rootedness instead of happiness? I would have appreciated a little more clarification on that issue.

In places I think that the book could have challenged Aztec ideas a little more. For example, it was good that it included an appendix dealing with the issue of blood sacrifice but, to some extent, it explained it away as arising due to a factually wrong cosmology.

However, wasn’t there also an underlying ‘collectivist’ thinking in Aztec culture, which the author earlier contrasted in the book with Western Individualism. And we know that collectivist regimes can under-value the well-being of individuals compared to society. So, doesn’t that raise the question of whether, and to what extent, blood sacrifice was a logical, albeit extreme, development of core ideas embedded within the Aztec culture and philosophy? It would have been helpful to press questions like that a little harder.

What I didn’t appreciate in the book were some of the occasional opinions. For example, in chapter 7 there were references to “girly things” like yoga and to masculine things like “chugging beer.” Are opinions promoting that kind of gendered stereotyping really appropriate in a modern book?

And in chapter 2 there were swipes at the ‘still oppressively sexist’ Catholic Church. Why on earth is a book on Aztec philosophy detouring into negative opinions about a contemporary world religion, especially as those kinds of opinions should be completely irrelevant to Aztec philosophy?

Overall, this was a broad and thoughtful introduction to a culture which deserves to be much better known. It will be relevant to anyone with an interest in philosophy, history or the culture of the Aztec region. However, some of the opinions in the text raise questions which may affect the suitability of this book for some readers and for use in some educational contexts. That means that it is difficult to grade it more than 2 stars

(These are honest comments on a free ARC digital version of the text. Readers should note that published versions of texts sometimes differ from earlier review versions, and so elements of this review may end up being non-applicable to the eventual published text).