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Most of the shorter essays presented in these books were
originally published in newspapers. On looking at the title of the
first book one might then believe that it should be placed in the
section entitled The Essayist. In the
Preliminary Note, however, Ferrater asserts that what is contained in
this book is, "a series of articles—or article-essays," that were
published in La Vanguardia, a Barcelona newspaper. In speaking of
"article-essays" Ferrater breaks down the usual distinction between
articles and essays, showing us once again that his work does not
easily fit into traditional categories. Ferrater admits that when he
considered the publication of these article-essays in newspapers, he
tried to be as lively, amusing and diversified as a philosopher can
be, but when he contemplated their collection in a book, he tried to
be as rigorous, analytical and rational as a journalist could be. He
then continues that it is not easy to combine these characteristics,
but if it can be done, there is no reason to reject the
opportunity. It is not necessary, he says, for journalism to be
philosophical all the time, but a little philosophy does no harm and
might even do some good, at least for philosophy itself which has gone
from having a bad press to having practically none, which is unfair,
although many philosophers are themselves to blame since they have
confused the austerity of philosophy with academic pedantry. It is a
shame, he adds, because philosophy has many ways of revealing the
world. Ferrater Mora liked writing for the papers for he
believed that the people who read his newspaper articles were not
necessarily the same ones who read his books. For this reason, he
thought that writing for the papers increased the number of his
readers. Many of his newspaper articles, published in both Spain and
Argentina, were, as he foresaw, later collected and published as
books.
In the Preface to Mariposas y supercuerdas, Ferrater
Mora explains that he described an earlier collection of essays
published as
Ventana al mundo
as a “Dictionary for Our Time” because
the articles were ordered alphabetically and thematically. It was, he
says, a way of viewing the variety of the world. In Mariposas y
supercuerdas he continues the same approach of categorizing
his essays into a number of themes that are then alphabetically
ordered. If one asks about the subject matter of these essays, the
answer is simple: our world. This answer, however, does not tell us
very much or, to be more precise, tells us too much.
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