Clemotte-Silvero, Oscar

Dr. Oscar Clemotte-Silvero is currently Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Malaspina University College. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Oviedo, in Spain.

A Translation of Alexandro Malaspina's Meditacíon de lo Bella en la Naturaleza

2007 0-7734-5404-7
Alexandro Malaspina conducted the most ambitious scientific experiment of the eighteenth century, and wrote the Meditación in 1798, while imprisoned for sedition in the fortress of San Antón off La Coruña. His fall, precipitated by the reaction to the politico-economic recommendations he made to the Monarchy on the subject of colonial relations, led to the suppression of most of the results. This translation is an attempt to redress an intellectual injustice, the silencing of a mind at once broader and deeper than those of his most well-known counterparts. Malaspina’s main topics in this work are questions of aesthetics: does Beauty lie in the eye of the beholder? Is Beauty to be found in Art or in Nature? Does Beauty depend on Utility?