A very colorful cover by Robert Jonas, for a very serious work…
“…experimental science is one of the most unlikely products of history.
Seers, priests, warriors and shepherds have abounded in all times and places.
But this fauna of experimental man apparently requires for its production
a combination of circumstances more exceptional than those that engender the unicorn.”
“The civilisation of the XIXth Century is, then,
of such a character that it allows the average man to take his place in a world of superabundance,
of which he perceives only the lavishness of the means at his disposal,
nothing of the pains involved.
He finds himself surrounded by marvelous instruments,
healing medicines,
watchful governments,
comfortable privileges.
On the other hand,
he is ignorant how difficult it is to invent those medicines and those instruments
and to assure their production in the future;
he does not realise how unstable is the organisation of the State
and is scarcely conscious to himself of any obligations.
This lack of balance falsifies his nature,
vitiates it in its very roots,
causing him to lose contact with the very substance of life,
which is made up of absolute danger,
is radically problematic.”
Reference
Jose Ortega y Gasset photo – Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona)