Philosophy in Mexico

Making Of The Mexican Mind: A Study in Recent Mexican Thought by Patrick Romanell. University of Nebraska Press. $3.75.

Pherhaps the most enlightening discovery which a recent first visit to Mexico yielded me was of the wealth of philosophical activity that goes on there. The other Mexican virtues—the geniality of the people, their living continuity with the varied elements of their past, and their wise readiness to move according to a time not our time—these I had been prepared for, although the joy of them still exceeded the expectation. And such qualities, to be sure, exude an unspoken philosophy of their own. But I am treating now of philosophy in the overt sense, expressed in books and public lectures and university curricula. The fact that three courses entitled “Metaphysics” by representatives of three rival philosophical schools were being offered at the University (a phenomenon without duplicate in this country) might perhaps be discounted as too specialized in its interest. But there is no discounting the evidence of publishers’ lists. Although there are too many variables on both sides to allow of exact comparison, I would estimate that in ratio to her much smaller population Mexico puts out from six to ten times as many serious books on philosophy in any year as we above the Rio Grande. Usually issued in paper editions of only a few hundred copies they go quickly out of print, but during their short life they occupy conspicuous places in bookstore windows and find ready buyers. I have even discovered Spanish translations of Scheler and Dilthey (philosophers unavailable in English) on bookstalls in such out-of-the-way little cities as Morelia and Uruapan.