 Unfortunately, his philosophical legacy was compromised by his abrasive personality and self-imposed isolation, and because he was not, like Caso, a professor of philosophy. Vasconcelos considered his writing on Latin American history and culture—the second group of writings—secondary to his philosophical work. Nevertheless, his account of Latin American history and culture have been more influential than his work on philosophy. His most influential work, La raza cósmica (1925), is a prophetic essay in which he considers Latin America the fountain of a mixed, cosmic race that will synthesize the four human races and lead humanity to the height of its development: the aesthetic. Although Vasconcelos believed that philosophy should be studied for its own sake, and for the universality of its ideas, he also claimed that Latin American nations should use philosophy to resist political, economic, and intellectual domination of the countries to the north (see his Ética, 1932).