Work · Latin American & Caribbean Philosophy
Professional Confessions
An intellectual autobiography of the philosopher as a teacher, from Madrid to Mexico, and a reflection on philosophy as a personal confession.
Introduction
“Professional Confessions” appeared in Mexico in 1958. Gaos tells the story of his vocation as philosopher and teacher: his studies in Madrid, his encounter with Ortega and phenomenology, his years as professor and rector and his move to Mexico, where he chose to see himself as a “transterrado”, transplanted rather than exiled. The book is at the same time an application of his own thesis that every philosophy is the confession of a person: if philosophy grows out of a life, the philosopher owes an account of that life. Gaos also reflects on teaching, on translating and on the place of philosophy in the culture of the Spanish language. The book is a main source for his biography and for the history of the Spanish philosophical exile in Mexico.
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