Abstract
The paper examines the potential influence of Wilhelm Dilthey on the works and thought of the Peruvian writer and ethnologist José María Arguedas. In 1953 Arguedas opened his ethnological article "Mountains in the Process of Peruvian Culture" with a quote from Dilthey's book of essays Experience and Poetry (1910).
Despite the fact that the two authors are distant in space and time, their hermeneutic approach and, above all, their faith in art as the highest possible form of knowledge, brings their reflections together. Dilthey's triad experience - expression - understanding, which forms the core of the chosen quote, expresses the essence of art and its value: beauty, honest judgment, an authentic descent into the depth of linguistic expression and cultural identity.
The three concepts also summarize Arguedas's lifelong efforts to use art to make the underestimated Quechua and mestizo cultures a legitimate part of modern Peru and art in general.