|
What would it look like if Ferrater Mora had designed his
own web site? His biographical sketch
would not contain more than four or five dates, while he would have
probably acknowledged his awards and
honors very modestly by saying he had received some honorary
degrees. No doubt he would not have included
photographs of himself,
although certainly he would have enjoyed displaying the
photographs
that he took. He would also have included some
autobiographical notes
for obviously he wrote them to be seen. All of these preferences can
be explained by Ferrater's intense interest in seeing his work
disseminated and in his lack of interest in promoting himself as the
object of attention.
Ferrater Mora would have rejected a detailed biography
for the same reason that he refused to write his memoirs: he thought
such dates and such memories tended to be boring and were of no help
in explaining the intellectual or creative life of a person. As he
once said in a video interview, the past would not in the least
elucidate the life of someone like himself who was born on the
Mediterranean coast. When asked, Ferrater claimed he was not
interested in the past. As he asserted, not only in interviews, but
also in Being and
Death what was of vital importance was the future, having
projects. Often he emphasized this idea by repeating that what was
significant for him was Zukunst and not
Vergangenheit. Nevertheless, many people believe that knowing
some of the objective details of Ferrater's life may help to explain
his broad interests and vast knowledge or the development of his
thought. For this reason, a number of dates have been given in the
biographical sketch and a number of awards and distinctions are
listed.
Objective data, in the form of dates or photographs, show
what Ferrater did or what he looked like, but unless scrutinized with
great care, such data reveal little of his personality. What kind of a
person was Ferrater? Partial answers to that question can be found
scattered throughout this web site: in his own more informal writings
on his work, in his letters and
interviews, and in the subjective,
sometimes contradictory,
reflections on him by colleagues, students,
friends and acquaintances.
|
