Unamuno, Ortega, Zubiri en la filosofia española (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 247 In his 84th year Croce declared: "Sad and melancholy as death might seem, the most terrible fate would befall us if a man would never die but be confined eternally to the prison that is life." Thus the Neapolitan thinker left this scene on a note strangely reminiscent of his stoical forbears in ancient Rome. Karl-Egon L6nne has certainly put before our eyes a fascinating portrait of a great public figure in Italy. MAX Rmsr.R New York City Unamuno, Ortega, Zubiri en la filosofia espa~ola. By Paulino Garagorri. (Madrid: Editorial Plenitud, 1968. Pp. 259) Pauline Garagorri has written an informative and illuminating study of philosophy, in partibua infidelium. His methodical care is admirable---note especially the sections on Ortega--and his scholarship never precious. Even the anecdotal (Para la interpretaci6n de una continuidad), at times rather ponderously heroic, serves to accentuate the merits of this book, which is far too expansive to be characterized as a mere "outline" (p. 13). It is, rather, a panoramic work, which, in this reviewer's opinion, will be welcomed by all serious students of philosophy or things Spanish The twentieth century represents a break, of as yet uncertain duration, in the progressively deteriorating condition of philosophy in Spain since the days of Suarez and Luis Vires. Garagorri contends that when the "physical and mathematical science" of the modern world is superseded by the "historical science" of the contemporary world, "the human is introduced into the center of philosophy" (p. 15), and philosophy, once again, becomes a Hispanic undertaking. This new philosophical horizon is introduced by Unamuno. Ortega and Zubiri will attempt its rigorous interpretation and the exploration of its possibilities. Unamuno and Zubiri, "religious thinkers" (p. 132), are accorded somewhat different treatment by the author. While he does no more than outline the main theme of Del sentimiento tMgico de la vida, perhaps because Uhamuno's thought is "of problematic philosophic value" (p. 23), Garagorri gives an unusually lucid interpretation of Zubiri's theory of religaci6n. As he explains it (El problema de Dios y el nuevo ateismo) religaci6n is for Zubiri the bond which "connects" the being of man with that "Other" which makes him be. It is the link between man ("the grounded") and his "ground." Man "consists" of religaci6n, in the sense that it establishes the "ground" of personal life and opens to him the "dimension" of "deity." Zubiri--here we are reminded of the Brief iiber den "Humanismus"--postulates two other "dimensions" in man's discovery of God: "divinity" and finally "God." As religaci6n only refers to the first "dimension" it is evidently not a proof of God's existence, but rather an attempt to establish the lines along which both proof and mediate rational apprehension of God can be given. The greatest strength of the book is the sections on Ortega. Garagorri carefully reviews the principal tenets of his thought; (I) my life as radical reality, to which all other realities must be referred; (2) I and my circumstance, as the structure of my life (I: a project of existence; circumstance: that which man has to do something about); (3) vital reason, reason as another function of my life; (4) historical reason (opposed to the "venerable" pure reason), the new "organ" by which man perceives man, the "science" of life. Especially illuminating are the pages devoted to method, in which the author constructs Ortegan analogs to the first four Cartesian regulae. While the Cartesian regulae are directed to knowing "the evident," the Ortegan "rules" are 248 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY directed to knowing "the living" (pp. 62-63). This new method is grounded on the "radical reality" of my life, and is situated in a dialectical series ("a real dialectic of the thing itself, not of the Logos," p. 74) of historico-human experiences, which, though systematic (human life is per se systematic), is never closed. An English translation of this excellent hook would be a welcome contribution toward philosophical ecumenism. ROBERTH ~ Seton Hall University The Idea of Happiness. By V. J. McGill. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1967. Pp. xvi+360. $6.95) The Idea of Justice. By Otto A. Bird. (New York...