Invited Conference

An image of José Luis Pinillos: A siege to his figure and work.
Dr. Enrique Lafuente (UNED, Madrid)



As it is well known, José Luis Pinillos (1919-2013) was one of the most important personalities in Spanish psychology at the second half of the 20th century. He was also my master and a teaching colleague of mine for more than ten years. This talk is meant as an homage to be added to the many tributes recently paid to him on the occasion of his birth centennial. As a means to this end, a “siege” procedure will be used -to employ a term minted by the philosopher Ortega y Gasset to express the idea that knowledge gets improved through the multiplication of perspectives, an idea to which Pinillos himself wholeheartedly adhered. Four different approaches will be attempted here: 1) to his life, with particular reference to his unpublished Memoirs; 2) to his person, mainly through my own memories and experience; 3) to his work, which will be considered at the light of three main clues -historical, theoretical and philosophical- from which it acquires its full meaning; and 4) to his style, both literary and human, by pointing out to what seem to me its most salient features. It is to be hoped that a partial, subjective but nonetheless truthful image will thus result; that is, an image faithful to my own point of view, from which Professor Pinillos always held a prominent place.