Appearing in English for the first time, the book is a translation of related sets of lecture notes, collected by Spanish editor Paulino Garagorri, that Ortega had carefully prepared for himself prior to his teaching various university courses between 1928 and 1931. Translator and editor Jorge García-Gómez has added in an appendix the Ortega essay, “Ideas and Beliefs,” as well as a 40-page set of footnotes.