Meditations on Hunting

by José Ortega y Gasset

Book Overview

Meditations on Hunting is the most quoted book in sporting literature. It's the finest work on the essence and ethics of hunting. Today when both hunting and fishing are often condemned, Meditations... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684186306
• ISBN13: 9780684186306
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

A Philosophy of the Hunt

This is an excellent book which details the Ortega y. Gasset philosophy of hunting. It is surprising how little reader interest there is in the book. I would consider it a must read for those who still hunt. Ortega y. Gasset bases his thinking on a combination of anthropology, history and natural sciences. The basic idea is that hunting is an ancient occupation of man, it is part of the definition of man's place in nature and it is ingrained into the genetic code of all of us. In this way, Ortega y. Gasset reveals that by hunting, people fulfill their biological imperatives, realize their ability to transcend time and find their primitive being which predates recorded history. The work is primarily a philosophical justification of hunting. I believe Ortega y. Gasset proves his point convincingly. However, that hardly matters because his analysis certainly evokes the right question which is, "Why do we hunt?"

Even non-hunters should own this

This little book goes to the heart of why we do what we do.I have always known that hunting does not make sense money-wise.Here is an in-depth explanation as to the reasons behind it. If people as a whole could understand that you are only doing things are right and natural,I feel like that would go a long way to getting the Bambiest off our backs.I have seen in other places that this book is a good one to re-read and I could not agree more.No hunters library should be without this.

Meditations on Ortega y Gasset

Puts the history of hunting in perspective for everyone. When you're done reading it, you understand why people hunt. You also understand why people are just as interested in hunting today as they have been throughout time. I would encourage hunters and non-hunters to read the book, as there is much to be appreciated by both groups. In fact, I would encourage re-reading it from time to time. It has that quality of good literature in that it reveals something new and interesting each time it is read.

An antidote to muddled thinking

Ortega y Gasset brings philosophical rigor and logic to the consideration of hunting. In a powerful counterblast to muddled, emotion-driven, anthropomorphic, confused, sentimental arguments - one can't call them "ideas" - OyG clarifies the core questions and quandaries, and gives a sound philosophical foundation for the defense - indeed, the celebration -of the hunting imperative that 21st century urban man sublimates or ignores at his environmental and spiritual peril.

An absolute necessity for the animal rights debate.

Ortega delves into the art of hunting, and gets to the root of the matter. Both the nature of human, and of animal are examined. Be forewarned, this is heavy duty philosophy, not just an article on where to hang a tree stand. Ortega wrote in the early twentieth century, and so some will think his ideas are dated, and that we know much better now. This gives rise to the thought that humans change rapidly. Ortega's work stands because we do not substantially change over just a hundred or even a thousand years. This is why Shakespear and the Bible are still applicable, and why Ortega's Meditations On Hunting still stands. The act of hunting has changed over the centuries, to evolve into sport. Ortega delves into this also, and his answer to our inner questions, and the current questions of animal rightists is so clear and distilled that it shines in one's brain. It is rare to find one so clear in academia.