Beyond the Enigma: Toward a Participatory Ontology of the Andean World (A Philosophical Continuation of 'The Inca Enigma')

Abstract

Abstract This text offers a philosophical continuation of the essay “The Inca Enigma,” deepening the hypothesis that the so-called “Inca mystery” is not a dark residue left by the Incas but a modern difficulty in understanding non-dualist forms of thought. It develops a participatory ontology of the Andean world through four concepts: pacha (field of occurrence), ayllu (relational ontology), Qosqo and the ceque system (a spatial metaphysics as a crossing of planes), and ayni (reciprocity as a “creative debt” that sustains the fabric of relations). It argues that even Inca power is primarily expressed in terms of circulation and symbolic qualification of energy rather than static accumulation. The text engages early colonial sources as well as contemporary Andean ethnohistory and anthropology, while preserving a distinct philosophical voice. Note on this edition This is the English-language version of the Spanish original “Más allá del enigma: hacia una ontología participativa del mundo andino,” available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18750103.