¡Que inventen ellos!

¡Que inventen ellos! (English: ¡Let them invent!) is a lapidary quote by Miguel de Unamuno whose repeated use of the phrase has produced a motif or cliché used with opposite meanings.[1]

The motif is an example of how science is a "marginal reality in Spain in its organization and social context".[2] It has become a stereotype of Spanish people being anti-scientific, sometimes rejected as offensive and sometimes claimed with pride. The quote is often paraphrased, in some cases in a feminist sense, revindicating the work of the women in science; Que inventen ellas (let them [women] invent).[3]

History

The phrase became controversial with José Ortega y Gasset, who, from 1906 and at least to 1912, who wrote on the subject of "the Europeanization of Spain, or the Hispanicization of Europe".[4][5]

Umamo considered modern European scientific orthodoxy and scientific inquisition to be at odds with "Spanish science", which he identified with mysticism and idealism. He wrote that it was preferable to be a religious ancient African than a scientific modern European.[6]

Spanish
Lo europeo moderno o lo africano antiguo...
¿por qué no ser africano como lo fue San Agustín?
 Translation
The modern European or the ancient African... why not be African like Saint Augustine was?

The phrase is given a distinct although coincident meaning in a letter of Unamuno to Ortega on 30 May 1906.

Spanish
Yo me voy sintiendo profundamente antieuropeo.
¿Que ellos inventan cosas?, invéntenlas
 Translation
I have come to feel profoundly anti-European.
They are inventing things? Let them invent.

The phrase is used in July of the same year, in El pórtico del templo, an article in the form of dialogue between two characters:[7]

Spanish

ROMÁN.- Inventen, pues, ellos y nosotros nos aprovecharemos de sus invenciones. Pues confío y espero en que estarás convencido, como yo lo estoy, de que la luz eléctrica alumbra aquí tan bien como allí donde se inventó.

SABINO.- Acaso mejor.

— El pórtico del templo

 Translation

ROMÁN: So, let them invent and we will take advantage of their inventions. Well, I trust and hope that you will be convinced, as I am, that electric light illuminates here as well as where it was invented.

SABINO.- Maybe better.

— El pórtico del templo

References

  1. ^ Three examples of periodistic utilization:

    The “let them invent” of Unamuno is still current. Spain continues aground, according to the repport about innovation in 2006 published yesterday by Brussels. His entepreneur spirit cruises a stage of failing layer, his enterprises don't want neither hear of invest in innovation and their patents shines of their absense.

    — "'Que inventen otros'". El País (in Spanish). 23 February 2007. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
  2. ^ Glick, Thomas F.; Portela Marco, Eugenio; Navarro, Víctor (1982). "La historia de la ciencia en España como realidad marginal en su organización y contexto social" [The history of the science in Spain as a marginal reality in their organization and social context]. Anthropos: Boletín de información y documentación (in Spanish). 20: 2. ISSN 0211-5611. 1431884 – via Dialnet.
  3. ^ Sánchez, Esther (12 September 2003). "Logros científicos de mujeres en la muestra '¡Que inventen ellas!". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 October 2025.
  4. ^ Abellán, José Luís (1994-05-10). El "¡que inventen ellos!" de Unamuno [¡Let them invent! of Unamuno]. Las grandes polémicas de la cultura española (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 October 2025 – via Fundación Juan March.
  5. ^ Ortega y Gasset, José (27 September 1909). "Unamuno y Europa, fábula". El Imparcial (in Spanish). No. 15284. Retrieved 30 October 2025 – via filosofia.org.
  6. ^ Abellán, minute 10.
  7. ^ Quevedo, Luís (13 December 2014). "Las raíces del 'que inventen ellos'" [The roots of 'Let them invent'] (in Spanish). El Mundo (Spain). Retrieved 27 April 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.