We seek to investigate the historical reasons, related to events and concepts, which made Fernando de Azevedo, in his work A cultura brasileira, defend strongly the educational reforms implemented by the New State Regime, largely contradicting those views held in the first half of 1930´s, particularly in "Manifesto dos Pioneiros" (The Pioneers' Manifesto). Secondly, our purpose is to understand this paradox. The method initially involves an exercise of hermeneutics on the author's textuality in the work in question, seeking to understand what raised his enthusiasm for such reforms, which, from today's viewpoint, seem unreasonable. In order to compare the author's points of view, we focus on three aspects: 1) the role played by the State in the educational systems; 2) the issue of the nationalization of education; 3) the views on professional education.
modern and traditional; sense of existence; historiography of ideas