Meditations on Hunting

by José Ortega y Gasset, Howard B. Wescott (Translator)

The Spanish philosopher examines the nature of hunting and its impact on man the hunter

English & Spanish edition

Genres: Philosophy, Outdoors, Nonfiction, Nature

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1943

About the author

José Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.

Reviews

[Theo Austin-Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

It really speaks to the power of Ortega y Gasset's prose that one of the most deplorable acts to watch, at least in my experience, is rendered by him as one of the most sublime and invigorating. He describes dog hunting as adding a 'symphonic majesty' to the hunt, with the bright idea of bringing greyhounds, mastiffs, bassets etc. into the fray as being an achievement comparable to the 'discovery of polyphony' in music.

His view communicates the idea that Paleolithic man, who conducted himself as a hunter as a means to an end rather than as a leisurely pursuit, was saturated by instinct and had only brief flareups of primitive reason. Modern man feels a sense of nostalgia concerning this prior state and, in the meantime, remains somewhat resentful of his domestication, so decides to allocate time to an artificial return to it so as to lose himself within the bosom of Nature and demonstrate (through the game of the hunt and his self-imposed limits warranting off undue excess - dynamiting a lake doesn't qualify as hunting) the clear order he manifests in his action as possessing a supremacy over the prey he hunts.

This short book reminds me greatly of a terrible night of hunting I carried out as a boy on the eve of my adolescence. Such an event pretty much consisted of me laying prone in a bush during a deep fog and randomly flashing a torch on and off to see whether or not I would catch a rabbit off guard. I was positively freezing my nuts off in the midst of some poor bastard's aristocratic private estate while my father and his mutual friend wandered off into the woods, maybe he's still in denial, because I definitely heard some strange noises echo throughout that infernal night which belonged to neither fox nor hare. Alas, I begrudgingly shot at a rabbit around an hour or so later and to this day still have no idea if I hit him or not, after this book I wish I had hit that fuzzy little fucker. I don't think anyone felt like they possessed much supremacy that night....

[Curtis Anthony Bozif · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intelligent piece of writing on hunting.

[Ryder · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of nice observations. since I grew up hunting I have to say that most of Ortega's meditations ring true. Hunting as 'Diversion' is questioned immediately, for what drives a person to work so hard at something (hunting) just for diversion. diversion should, in theory, be the opposite of work as it is an escape from it.
The book delves into some primordial considerations and touches on the heightened awareness and focus necessary for a successful hunt: evolutionary traits our species has developed for survival.

[Svesely · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fun to read, even for a vegetarian, and it reveals the spiritual side of hunting. Good as a gift for your meat-eating nephews and nieces (or friends).

[Daniel Ares · Rating 2 out of 5]

The argument of this book is ethically harmful, scientifically capricious and logically insane. The parallelisms it traces between modern leisure-hunters and prehistoric hunters (or present-day hunter-gatherers) is not justified. Their conception of nature and the animal is radically different from contemporary Westerners who hunt for leisure and a trophy (this is anthropology 101). Ortega´s view of the "natural" relation between humans and wild animals is totally human chauvinist, insanely anthropocentric, and biased by his fantasies of a world dominated by blood-thirsty predators among which he includes humans. Ortega affirms (without any kind of scientific, psychological, or anthropological justification; only using vague anecdotal evidence and a biased interpretation of hypothesis on prehistoric life) that modern humans possess a "natural" killing instinct that lead them to aggression towards wild animals. Even worse: since the essence of the life of wild animals consist in trying to escape from predators all the time, modern day human leisure-predators(perhaps with a telescopic sight) are actually honoring prey animals when they killed them for "fun" ("diversion" in the original Spanish), without necessity of their meat. Of course, so argument goes, the wild animals are made for hunters to kill them and if you don`t do that you are repressing your "true" humanity like an old lady or a person who is not masculine enough. I think this argument is capricious, ridiculous, short-sighted and very poorly sustained. It was written in the first half of the 20th century, a time when many species became extinct (or in the brink of extinction)all over the world because of the popularization of trophy hunting. This book seems a piece of propaganda for a MODERN (not prehistoric, come on!) way of conceiving the relations of humans with wild animals that was extremely damaging.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this after it was mentioned in another book as something that induced eye rolls until the author's first time hunting. Some of it was interesting but even though it was short it seemed like overkill. Overall I liked it though.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic book that should be read by everyone interested in the relationship between man the hunter and his environment and prey.

[Stefan Maras · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life is a terrible conflict, a grandiose and atrocious confluence. Hunting submerges man deliberately in that formidable mystery and therefore contains something of religious rite and emotion in which homage is paid to what is divine, transcendent, and in the laws of Nature.

[Robert Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a philosopher used to be much easier when you could say thing that you felt or observed with absolutely no fact checking. Take me back.

[Everett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ortega y Gasset is widely unknown today, but his Meditations on Hunting have been influencing outdoor writers. Written in 1942, the short essays are rich with quotes that guide hunters toward elevating their craft. His most often quoted passage, “To sum up, one does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted” deals directly with the hunter’s paradox and the essential element death brings to hunting. Ortega writes with a direct style that at times can be jarring which requires the reader to consider and sometimes re-read before moving on. What is found are simple truths that are timeless and memorable:
On going home empty-handed: “The beauty of hunting lies in the fact that it is always problematic.”
On being focused: “Every hunter knows that, with regard to the animal, what he has to fight most is the beast’s absence.”
On hunting’s priority in life: “Every good hunter has dedicated a part of his existence-it is unimportant how much- to hunting.”
Finding a copy of Mediations is difficult, but the trove of ethical advice simply cannot be matched.

[William T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pub. 1943