Editors’ Introduction…
It is indeed a great pleasure to present this first issue of the The Xavier Zubiri Review to Zubiri scholars and to the general public. The Review is intended to be a forum for presentation of interpretations of Zubiri’s philosophy, analyses of outstanding problems, and applications to science, theology, arts, and other areas. The articles in this issue reflect the great depth and breadth of Zubiri’s thought, as well as the rich literature which is growing up around the magnificent legacy of his writings. They are all drawn from the XX World Congress of Philosophy, held in Boston during the second week of August, 1998. At that conference, there were two sessions devoted to Zubiri which were organized by the Xavier Zubiri Foundation of North America, and there were also papers on Zubiri presented in general conference sessions. All of those papers are collected here.
From the first Zubiri session, devoted to Zubiri’s thought in the general area of metaphysics and theory of the intelligence, there is a general introduction by Thomas Fowler to Zubiri’s philosophy, for those unfamiliar with him. This is followed by a paper of Cirilo Flórez on the development of Zubiri’s concept of the intelligence, based on the history of philosophy. The first group finishes with Nelson Orringer’s explication of how Zubiri added dynamism to his concept of essence, as reflected in the posthumous work Estructura dinámica de la realidad.
The second session concentrates on Zubiri’s ethics, aesthetics, and philosophy of man. It opens with the fourth paper in this journal, by Luis Jimenez, which discusses how sentiment or feeling functions in Zubiri’s philosophy, especially with reference to intelligence and knowing. Basilio Rojo then analyzes poetry and feeling in the context of Zubiri’s philosophy. The group ends with Jorge Ayala’s discussion of the concept of the soul in Zubiri and Lain, and how the two philosophers differ.
Finally, the last two papers of the journal discuss Zubiri’s relationship with important traditions and questions from the history of philosophy. Thomas Fowler discusses both Zubiri and Hume’s famous analysis of causality, and Zubiri’s criticisms of fundamental points of classical (ancient and medieval) philosophy. These papers are especially intended to clarify Zubiri’s thought for those who might tend to confuse him with other philosophical traditions.
The Editorial Board of the Review welcomes reader comments! Readers are also directed to the call for papers on page 77.
—Thomas Fowler and Nelson Orringer