Unamuno and the Science of Doubt
Beyond the famous phrase "Let them invent!", discover the Spanish writer's unexpected passion for mathematics and scientific progress
By Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
UCC+i_USAL in collaboration with the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) - Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities
Portrait of Miguel de Unamuno (February 1909)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
For a long time, there has been talk of Miguel de Unamuno’s contradictory stance on science; however, the reality is that he always maintained an intense bond with the scientific sphere of his time.
Son, daughter and grandson of Unamuno making origami (c.1935)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
From an army of paper birds to "cocotological" research
Miguel de Unamuno’s relationship with science began anecdotally through his favorite hobby: as a child, he entertained himself by forming delightful "armies" of paper birds—a charming childhood pastime.
Miguel de Unamuno making origami (c. 1932)Unamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
Unamuno baptized the paper bird with the "scientific name" Cocotta vulgaris. Furthermore, he described it as a "perfect papyriaceous being" and linked it to geometry, mathematics, biology, physics, and chemistry. He even coined the original term "Cocotología" (Cocotology) to name the science dedicated to its study.
1902 | Love and Pedagogy
In his novel Amor y pedagogía (Love and Pedagogy), published in 1902, he criticized positivism, scientism, and the dangerous consequences of absolute idolatry toward science, advocating for a human dimension to prevent science from becoming devoid of feeling.
Unamuno´s portrait by Marcuartu (c. 1880) by Macario MarcuartuUnamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
Although he claimed that mathematics was the antithesis of emotion, Unamuno mentioned it several times in his works, drawing inspiration for original poems and evoking his school days in Recuerdos de niñez y de mocedad (Memories of Childhood and Youth):
"What joy it was to develop long binomials and trinomials! When the blackboard was crammed with signs, my heart rejoiced. And upon reaching the final result after tracing the last terms at the bottom of the board—in cramped, tiny script, with one knee on the floor amidst a haze of chalk dust—I would lift my head, radiant and happy, seeing that I had obtained the exact result given in the text. It worked! What a pity to have to erase it!"
— Miguel de Unamuno, Recuerdos de niñez y de mocedad, 1908.
Could I turn out to be a mathematician?
In 1893, while collaborating with the newspaper El Nervión, he entered a competition organized by the Belgian magazine La Science, which posed a mathematical problem with a prize of 1,000 francs. Would the young writer win such a succulent sum?
"I don’t know if you read in 'El Nervión' my solution to a problem presented by the Belgian magazine 'La Science,' offering 1,000 francs to each of the first five to submit the solution before the 15th of this month. As soon as I read the problem, the solution occurred to me—almost by inspiration—and I sent it off. Could I turn out to be a mathematician? That would be funny."
— Letter from Miguel de Unamuno to Pedro de Múgica, November 13, 1893.
A detailed view of Darwin's worktable at Down HouseOriginal Source: DOWN HOUSE, ENGLISH HERITAGE
Understanding "¡Que inventen ellos!" (Let them invent!)
Are you familiar with this expression formulated by Unamuno? Its intent has been distorted and stripped of its true context over time, leading to accusations that the writer despised science, when in truth his relationship with it was far more cordial.
The writer was not against scientific progress; what he could not stand was the inferiority complex prevalent in the Spain of that era—which was in evident scientific and technical arrears—as he believed it hindered the development of other important human capacities.
Darwin, Charles PortraitsLIFE Photo Collection
The tribute to Darwin
In 1909, students from Valencia invited Unamuno to a tribute held in the Great Hall (Paraninfo) of the University of Valencia to mark the centenary of Charles Darwin’s birth.
In his speech, Unamuno described the scholar as an icon of science and progress. The talk was met with great enthusiasm, and his moving closing words were recorded in a special issue of the magazine Tribuna Médica:
"And now to you, those who have prepared and rendered this tribute to a man of conscience and science, who contributed so much to enriching the human conscience. You have thereby contributed to promoting the collective conscience, to ensuring that the crowd becomes a people—a people aware of themselves."
— Miguel de Unamuno, Speech at the Darwin Tribute, Tribuna Médica, February 1909.
Louis Lozowick, New York, lithograph (1925/1925)British Museum
Mecanópolis
Did you know that Unamuno wrote the first science fiction story in Spain? In 1913, he published Mecanópolis, influenced by his reading of H.G. Wells. The narrative is a dystopia about the replacement of man by machine.
Sci-Fi friends
Were you aware of the friendship between Unamuno and H.G. Wells? The plea published by the English writer in a London newspaper in support of Unamuno following his exile was very significant. In the article, Wells described him as an "important professor and ex-rector of indisputable preeminence."
During Unamuno's trip to London in early 1936, he received a cordial invitation from Wells to have dinner and go to the cinema to see the film Things to Come, based on Wells' own work.
Traguntía, four frogs by Miguel de UnamunoUnamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
Hobby and knowledge
Among the various drawings created by Unamuno, one can discover a curious selection that confirms his attraction to natural sciences and the Salmantine wilderness that so enthused him.
In small sketches, he explored themes showing his interest in anatomy: notes with measurements, schematic drawings, studies on the proportions of the human head, and a strange "hand-foot," the fruit of his overflowing imagination.
Drawing by Miguel de Unamuno by Miguel de UnamunoUnamuno House-Museum, Salamanca University
Science and conscience
"True science teaches, above all, to doubt and to be ignorant." — Miguel de Unamuno, The Tragic Sense of Life, 1913.
Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit of the University of Salamanca, in collaboration with the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology - Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities.
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