"This collection provides an excellent introduction to three of the most important names in twentieth-century Spanish philosophy: Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936), José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955), and José Ferrater Mora (1912-1991). The thought-provoking work of these great contemporary philosophers offers a rich and penetrating insight into human existence. Originally written by Ferrater Mora in the middle of the last century, his interpretations of Unamuno and Ortega are considered classics, and the chapter on his own thought reflects (...) his mature thinking about being and death. Each essay is introduced by noted Ferrater Mora scholar J. M. Terricabras and contains updated biographical and bibliographic information." - Back cover. (shrink)

This is the text of The Lindley Lecture for 1968, given by Jose Ferrater Mora, a South African philosopher.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Pragmatism as Anti-Authoritarianism by Richard RortyJ. A. ColenRORTY, Richard. Pragmatism as Anti-Authoritarianism. Edited by Eduardo Mendieta. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2021. xxxv + 236 pp. Cloth, $27.95This book reproduces Richard Rorty's manuscript of the Ferrater Mora Lectures held in Spain in 1996, about ten years before his death. The preface is signed "Bellagio, July 22, 1997." Robert Brandom's foreword for the (...) book states that its publication is an "epoch-making event" since it was "long-lost" in the abysses of Catalan and Spanish languages.We could think that this should be taken with a grain of salt, considering that large sections of the book were previously published even in English. Chapter 1, "Pragmatism and Religion," was printed in the Revue Internationale de Philosophie in 1999; chapter 2, "Pragmatism as Romantic Polytheism," was collected in The Revival of Pragmatism (ed. Morris Dickstein) in 1998; and lectures 3 and 4 appear in a 2000 book edited by Robert Brandom. Chapter 7 was printed in Rorty's Philosophy and Social Hope, and 8, 9, and 10 were published in his Philosophical Papers.So truly, only chapters 5 and 6 were entirely ignored by the Anglophone reader. Rhetoric aside, it is nonetheless a very important book, and perhaps even an epoch-making one, although the Rortian scholar will never find himself in unchartered territory. It is indeed epoch-making for at least three different kinds of reasons.Firstly, the complete book with Rorty's own preface and all the lectures set together, carefully edited by Eduardo Mendieta, with notes and an insightful epilogue, presents Rorty's "mature version and vision of his path-breaking pragmatism." The oral nature of the delivery adds some charm to the text, and the recovery of the whole book-length text is epochal since, in spite of being a prolific writer of distinctive and provocative texts, Rorty's books are scarce: He wrote just four important books, in comparison with hundreds of shorter pieces. (It could even be argued that even his four main books are "fragments" that in some instances lack cogency.)Secondly, the political landscape has largely changed. People used to fight for the Truth. It may very well be that the combat of ideas by resorting to words with capital letters, interesting as it often is, doesn't make for the best arguments. When the flag of Truth (uppercase) is raised in politics, reason easily becomes the prey of the passions of the soul. Mendieta aptly titled his interviews with Rorty with the motto "take care of freedom and Truth will take care of itself." The notion that the highest [End Page 363] degree of freedom and tolerance and the lowest degree of dogmatism arise when no truth is believed was not Rorty's own invention, and in fact it has a long ancestry. But Rorty is surely among its most vocal advocates and a remarkable thinker. Right now, the situation looks entirely different. Rorty's indefatigable struggle against the idea of truth in politics was all too successful. Could it happen that the owl of Minerva rises again at dusk, and the book emerges when people are no longer fighting about truth but against fake news? In fact, a new post-truth era was just inaugurated. Thus, the book makes an amazing read for those who are interested in the genealogy of an old idea: the death of Truth—an irony that Rorty would have appreciated.Thirdly, Rorty is an unavoidable figure in contemporary political philosophy, but his pragmatism has always been somewhat mysterious. Despite his praise of the early pragmatists and his dismissive attitude towards "depth," very few doubt that his arguments are deeper and go further than, say, John Dewey's. Nor was he exactly one of the so-called new pragmatists such as Putnam, Huw Price, or Robert Brandom. Nevertheless, his bold and iconoclastic attacks on "representationalism," the naïve idea that language and thought merely mirror the world, really were influential, or even gave birth to a new pragmatism. But he was not one of them. (Etienne Gilson used to quote a saying according to which God... (shrink)

This article summarily describes the arrival and establishment of Analytic Philosophy [= AP] in Spain. It first expounds the role played in that process by philosophers such José Ferrater Mora, exiled alter the Spanish Civil War, and by Manuel Garrido, Jesús Mosterín, Javier Muguerza, Josep Blasco y José Hierro, the proper introducers of AP in the Spanish university. Secondly, the article refers to the work developed by the introducers’ former students and disciples, and holds that this second wave (...) of AP in Spain largely helped to its consolidation. Finally, the current situation–a third wave of analytic philosophers in action–is reviewed. Its most actives centres are identified, the main changes in the national scientific policy, its profound effects on academic activities for the last twenty years, and the high degree of internationalization reached by Spanish AP from the 1990s, after the founding of the Sociedad Española de Filosofía Analítica (S.E.F.A.), are concisely pointed out. (shrink)

A brief and neutral review of the many "isms" in current philosophic discussion deals with questions of what philosophy is and what the role of philosophy can be in the twentieth century. Professor Ferrater Mora singles out the conflicting Russian, Anglo-American and European philosophies and suggests possible reconciliations. He also examines the role of philosophy in relation to art, science and religion.--J. E. M.

"También estoy satisfecha porque sé que estoy cumpliendo la voluntad de mi marido. En un testamento muy informal escribió: "Deseo que mi querida esposa tenga la fortaleza necesaria para vivir aún durante muchos años, y para hacer, en el transcurso de los mismos, cuanto crea mejor para mantener viva la memoria de los pensamientos que he expresado en mis escritos". Así he intentado hacerlo, y lo seguiré haciendo. Estoy segura: José estaría complacido de que su DICCIONARIO siga vivo." PRISCILLA COHN (...) FERRATER MORA "El objetivo de esta nueva edición -a los quince años de la última preparada por Ferrater- se puede formular de un modo simple: se ha querido actualizar el DICCIONARIO conservando fielmente el carácter de la obra y, muy especialmente, dos aspectos subrayados ya por el autor en su Prólogo a la sexta edición: de una parte, el rigor y la exactitud de la información; de otra, la abertura amplia y ecuménica del DICCIONARIO." JOSEPH-MARIA TERRICABRAS "Hace tiempo que el Diccionario de filosofía se ha consagrado como una herramienta indispensable para estudiantes y filósofos. Su publicación en una nueva edición actualizada es un acontecimiento muy esperado y una noticia muy grata. Obra de notable erudición y amplio espectro, es una fuente fecunda de información, instrucción y reflexión." NICHOLAS RESCHER University of Pittsburg " El Ferrater Mora ha sido mi diccionario filosófico favorito desde los años sesenta. Lo considero una de las fuentes más exhaustivas e informadas para uso de estudiantes y profesores de filosofía." CHRISTIAN THIEL Institut für Philosophie der Universität Erlangen-Nümberg. (shrink)

La unidad de las cuatro visiones.--San Agustín o la visión cristiana.--Vico o la visión renacentista.--Voltaire o la visión racionalista.--Hegel o la visión absoluta.