Being and Nothingness was "a pretentious metaphysical thesis" and "principally an exercise in misusing the verb 'to be'." The philosopher William Barrett, writing in "Irrational Man" (1958), described "Being and Nothingness" as "a great, uneven, brilliant and verbose tome". He noted Sartre's debts to Heidegger, but nevertheless credited him with originality. He criticized Sartre for neglecting Heidegger's "notion of the truth of Being", his understanding of what it means for a subject or object to be. In his view, Sartre failed to "deal with the problem of truth in a radical and existential way", instead viewing truth in "the ordinary intellectualistic sense that
Francisco Romero (philosopher) in 1946, not returning until 1955. Romero began to publish on literary subjects during the First World War. Known as the "dean of Ibero-American philosophers," he became an influential critic, philosopher, and translator. Romero is interested in examining the space of human culture, especially with respect to creativity and social responsibility. A strongly anti-ideological humanist, he argues against Humean rationalism and all deterministic conceptions of the universe. True being is identified by Romero with transcendence, spiritual and moral aspiration, and intentionality. His writing is marked by a balance between philosophical rigor and literary sophistication, and "Theory of Man" (1952; English