DD 101-105.999 (Tony) What Is Philosophy? by Jose Ortega y Gasset (101 ORT)

It's fitting that I started to read this book during Banned Books Week. This book I read was like many books in American culture that have the paradoxical honor of being well loved by many and prohibited by the elite and fearful. Like many other banned books, this book is a controdiction of self, whether the slef be "I" or society as a whole.

It's easy to read, yet hard to understand. It's based in Christain theology, without a Christain God or Christ. It's a book of science, without the experiments. Most importantly, it's a series of lectures never said aloud, but ever read.

It seems the life of Jose Ortega y Gasset was filled conflicts too. A proud supporter of a government that exiled him. A simple man hailed as one of Europe's greatest amatuer scholar's. This book is a collection of essays he planned to lecture at the University of Madrid, to layman interested in philosophy, in 1929. According to the introduction, Gasset gave one lecture, but had to cancel the entire class, as the school was shut down due to a political uprising. (page 11) The uprising led to Gasset's exile to Argentina, where this and many other of his philosophical works were published.

The biggest complaint I have about this book is how it is interpreted. Translated from Spanish to English by Mildred Adams of New York, New York, she neglects to translate the many foreign phrases used by Gasset as works cited in his essays. Of the books eleven essays, the first nine of filled with quotations of Greek, Latin, French and other European languages. Yet only the last two essays contain phrases in both the native tongue and an English translation (which is translated in paranthesises).

For one, such as I, who is neither a fan, nor avid reader of philosophy, this book was a pleasant surprise. I found myself able to digest chunks of 15-20 pages with little difficulty. Sadly, I would in deed read many of those pages, understanding the words in those pages, but handicapped in my narrow, uncomprhending brain to understand the concepts lauded in these essays. Instead, I felt elation in being that much more closer to being through with yet another book in this project I do not have any true desire to read.

That is the real paradox. The true tragedy. A project like this is meant to open my mind to new history's, ideas, people, even philosophys. Yet, I made the worst of it, and probably missed a very important lesson. In fact, my rational was much like those elite and scared little minds who banned books such as this. And I succeed in realizing this important fact before it's too late.

Maybe, I owe this book another read.

More importantly, I deserve a reward for understanding what a closed mind can do, or in this case, NOT DO. Yes, I need a reward. Hmmm.... I've got It! I will learn from the past, and not dwell on it!

On to the next book!