 José Vasconcelos was one of the most influential thinkers and promoters of Mexican culture in the 20th century. His reputation as an intellectual, politician, and writer is stronger than his reputation as a philosopher. However, he cannot be passed over in a history of Mexican philosophy. His theoretical works can be divided into two groups. The first group includes the writings in which he developed a philosophical system, from Estética (1936) to Lógica (1945), specifically an overarching metaphysical view that he had sketched out as early as 1916 in his Pitágoras, una teoría del ritmo. Vasconcelos believed that his main contribution to philosophy was the notion of an aesthetic a priori, as well as a list of metaphysical categories based on music rather than logic or science. According to him, the universe is more like a symphony than a logical treatise, and understanding requires the emotions as much as the intellect.