Permanent exile. Philosophy without a country

Abstract

In 1978, thirty-seven years ago, José Luis Abellán published his work Panorama of current Spanish philosophy: a scandalous situation. The reasons for such scandal were not only due to the context of political and cultural transition, but also seemed to be a constant in the intellectual evolution of philosophy in Spain, always marked by multiple exiles. The same year in which a new constitution was proclaimed, Professor Abellán seemed to focus on an invariable and persistent doubt: the existence of a history of Spanish philosophy. Scandal always accompanies Spanish philosophy and philosophy in Spanish. The current context is a faithful reflection of this situation, both in Spain and in Latin America. The areas of analysis are multiple and show the different problems of this diagnosis. The difficulty involved in being objective, honest and optimistic does not detract from anyone's credit, but it necessarily requires judgment. We must not forget that the long questioning about the status of philosophy in Spain has been a constant throughout the 20th century, always mediated by a condition of exile.