The work of the Mexican Leopoldo Zea (1912-2004) represents one of the highest moments in the process of building Latin American consciousness. Discourse from marginalization and barbarism (1988) is a mature work. It is the discourse that that Hispanic conscience, perfectly aware of its "otherness" (of its own marginalization and barbarism in relation to the canonical discourse of Western-European modernity), rises above itself, raises its voice and asks for respect. Cultural and philosophical respect. The figures of Prospero and Caliban (borrowed from Shakespeare's The Tempest) enclose the difficulty of a dialogue that Zea is firmly committed to for the sake of a positive improvement of the world - the world as a whole, and not just some of its parts.