The president of the Castellón Provincial Council, José Martí (Sueras, Castellón, 1965) confesses to Efe that he would have loved to be a center back for Barça but that he is fortunate to have practiced the " most beautiful profession in the world", teaching philosophy, and recognizes his weakness for paella, "a fundamental conquest of the human spirit."
-What can philosophy contribute to an institution like the Provincial Council?
-Philosophy always contributes, although sometimes it may not seem like it: "logos", rationality, sense of measure, reciprocity, recognition of the other, empathy, dialogue... Reason is dialogic, it comes and goes, it does not stagnate, it does not close itself in. , it is not bunkered. That is missing in the Provincial Council and in politics in general.
-The German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk vindicated in a conference Nietzsche's opinion that philosophy is "the tireless attempt to harm stupidity." Would you define it like that?
-I was a Nietzschean when I was young, then I became a Kantian. There is some difference (laughs). Nietzsche is dynamite, he said it himself. Sloterdijk's definition seems excellent to me, the problem is that we always think that the stupid ones are the others.
It always seems to those of us in the union that there is little philosophy and I am from the union. After the reforms and counter-reforms it hasn't turned out bad at all.
The point is that it should not only be in high school, but in life and in the media. There are few philosophers in public debate and there should be more.
-You are a big fan of reading, what are you reading right now?
-All my life I have waited for summer to read compulsively without restraint and without measure for fun and entertainment. I really enjoy Posteguillo's Romans and I am with "Julia."
I am going to devour the reissue of the “Armas y las Letras” by maestro Telegram Number Data Trapiello and Eliseu Climent has kindly given me “Gregori Mayans i la Cultura de la Ilustració”, a classic by Vicent Peset. And I, who am a fervent defender of the "newcomers" and the Oliva scholar, cannot let it pass.
-Recommend us an essential philosophy reading for this summer.
-Only the classics are essential essentials, but between philosophy and politics, “The reactionary drift of the left” by Félix Ovejero Lucas is not bad at all, and it also has dynamite.
-If you could take a plane to any part of the world right now, where would you go?
-Although the question invites you to go very far, I would stay in Europe, in the beloved old Europe and I would visit Krakow.
I have been several times with high school exchanges but I would like to visit it with the love of my life, María Amparo, "my wife" (laughs). By the way, with the students we visited Auschwitz, an essential learning experience. All European youth should go.
-Any unspeakable secret?
-A good paella seems to me to be a fundamental achievement of the human spirit and, although I love olive oil, I can't see table olives. They repel me.
-Your career has evolved from teaching to politics. If she could start over and choose a new professional life, would she choose the same thing?
-Da boss!!! Let it be repeated!!!, shouted the vitalist Nietzsche of the "eternal return of the same." Well, I wouldn't go that far and when I was young I would have loved to be a central defender for Barça (laughs).
But, seriously, I have been lucky enough to practice the most beautiful profession in the world, that of teaching, and I have really enjoyed doing it, I said it in my inauguration speech, perhaps politics also has a lot of pedagogy, of philosophy. with other means. We will see.
In any case, I believe, again with the classics, that the public-political dimension is an essential part of the human being.
-What does the president of the Provincial Council do on any given weekend when he doesn't have to work?
-I would almost say that in the short time that I have been there, the noun "president of the Provincial Council", with the predicate "not having to work" have not yet been seen.
We have just arrived and we have to be present in many towns and at many events, but I imagine that, when normality returns, as before: being at home, having family life, reading, taking a walk, going out with friends, like everything the world, "the aurea mediocritas" that the Erasmists said.