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José Ortega y Gasset (; 9 May 1883 – 18 October 1955) was a Spanish
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century, while Spain oscillated between
monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic ( constitutional monar ...
,
republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. ...
, and
dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...
. His
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
has been characterized as a "
philosophy of life (; meaning ' philosophy of life') was a dominant philosophical movement of German-speaking countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which had developed out of German Romanticism. emphasised the meaning, value and purpose of life a ...
" that "comprised a long-hidden beginning in a pragmatist
metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
inspired by
William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
, and with a general
method Method ( grc, μέθοδος, methodos) literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In recent centuries it more often means a prescribed process for completing a task. It may refer to: *Scien ...
from a realist
phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...
imitating
Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...
, which served both his proto-
existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and val ...
(prior to Martin Heidegger's) and his realist
historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...
, which has been compared to both
Wilhelm Dilthey Wilhelm Dilthey (; ; 19 November 1833 – 1 October 1911) was a German historian, psychologist, sociologist, and hermeneutic philosopher, who held G. W. F. Hegel's Chair in Philosophy at the University of Berlin. As a polymathic philosopher, w ...
and
Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a li ...
."


Biography

José Ortega y Gasset was born 9 May 1883 in
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
. His father was director of the newspaper ''
El Imparcial ''El Imparcial'', founded in 1918, was a newspaper in Puerto Rico. It circulated daily, except Sundays./ ''About El Imparcial. (San Juan, P.R.) 1918-197?.''] United States Library of Congress. Retrieved 26 July 2012. Its complete name was ''El ...
'', which belonged to the family of his mother, Dolores Gasset. The family was definitively of Spain's end-of-the-century liberal and educated bourgeoisie. The liberal tradition and journalistic engagement of his family had a profound influence in Ortega y Gasset's activism in politics. Ortega was first schooled by the
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
priests of
St. Stanislaus Kostka College, Málaga , logo = KostkaMalaga.png , logo_size = 140px , image = Fachada actual colegio.jpg , image_size = 270px , alt = , caption = Façade of the school building , motto ...
,
Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most po ...
(1891–1897). He attended the
University of Deusto The University of Deusto ( es, Universidad de Deusto; eu, Deustuko Unibertsitatea) is a Spanish private university owned by the Society of Jesus, with campuses in Bilbao and San Sebastián, and the Deusto Business School branch in Madrid. The Un ...
,
Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...
(1897–98) and the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the Central University of Madrid (now
Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loc ...
) (1898–1904), receiving a doctorate in Philosophy. From 1905 to 1907, he continued his studies in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
at
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
,
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
,
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
,
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
and, above all
Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximat ...
. At Marburg, he was influenced by the
neo-Kantianism In late modern continental philosophy, neo-Kantianism (german: Neukantianismus) was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The Neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the "thin ...
of
Hermann Cohen Hermann Cohen (4 July 1842 – 4 April 1918) was a German Jewish philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century ...
and
Paul Natorp Paul Gerhard Natorp (24 January 1854 – 17 August 1924) was a German philosopher and educationalist, considered one of the co-founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. He was known as an authority on Plato. Biography Paul Natorp was ...
, among others. On his return to Spain in 1908, he was appointed professor of
Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
,
Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from prem ...
and
Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...
at the Escuela Superior del Magisterio de Madrid.''Datos biográficos''
/ref> In 1910, he married Rosa Spottorno Topete, a Spanish translator and feminist, and was named full professor of
Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
at Complutense University of Madrid, a vacant seat previously held by Nicolás Salmerón. In 1917 he became a contributor to the newspaper '' El Sol'', where he published, as a series of essays, his two principal works: ''España invertebrada'' (''Invertebrate Spain'') and ''La rebelión de las masas'' (''
The Revolt of the Masses ''The Revolt of the Masses'' ( es, La rebelión de las masas, ) is a book by José Ortega y Gasset. It was first published as a series of articles in the newspaper '' El Sol'' in 1929, and as a book in 1930; the English translation, first publis ...
''). The latter made him internationally famous. He founded the ''
Revista de Occidente ''Revista de Occidente'' (Spanish: ''Magazine of the West'') is a cultural magazine which has been in circulation since 1923 with some interruptions. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is known for its founder, José Ortega y Gasset, a Spanish phi ...
'' in 1923, remaining its director until 1936. This publication promoted translation of (and commentary upon) the most important figures and tendencies in philosophy, including
Oswald Spengler Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (; 29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German historian and philosopher of history whose interests included mathematics, science, and art, as well as their relation to his organic theory of history. He is best k ...
,
Johan Huizinga Johan Huizinga (; 7 December 1872 – 1 February 1945) was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history. Life Born in Groningen as the son of Dirk Huizinga, a professor of physiology, and Jacoba Tonkens, who died two y ...
,
Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...
,
Georg Simmel Georg Simmel (; ; 1 March 1858 – 26 September 1918) was a German sociologist, philosopher, and critic. Simmel was influential in the field of sociology. Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approac ...
,
Jakob von Uexküll Jakob may refer to: People * Jakob (given name), including a list of people with the name * Jakob (surname), including a list of people with the name Other * Jakob (band), a New Zealand band, and the title of their 1999 EP * Max Jakob Memorial Aw ...
,
Heinz Heimsoeth Heinz Heimsoeth (12 August 1886, Cologne – 10 September 1975, Cologne) was a German historian of philosophy. Biography Heimsoeth began his studies at Heidelberg in 1905, but soon transferred to Berlin, where he studied with Wilhelm Dilthey, Alo ...
,
Franz Brentano Franz Clemens Honoratus Hermann Josef Brentano (; ; 16 January 1838 – 17 March 1917) was an influential German philosopher, psychologist, and former Catholic priest (withdrawn in 1873 due to the definition of papal infallibility in matters o ...
,
Hans Driesch Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch (28 October 1867 – 17 April 1941) was a German biologist and philosopher from Bad Kreuznach. He is most noted for his early experimental work in embryology and for his neo-vitalist philosophy of entelechy. He has also ...
, Ernst Müller,
Alexander Pfänder Alexander Pfänder (7 February 1870, in Iserlohn18 March 1941, in Munich) was a German philosopher who was a member of the Munich phenomenological school. Biography Pfänder was born in Iserlohn and spent his entire academic career in Munich ...
, and
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...
. Elected deputy for the
Province of León León (, , ; ; ) is a province of northwestern Spain in the northern part of the Region of León and in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. About one quarter of its population of 463,746 (2018) lives in the ...
in the constituent assembly of the
Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...
, he was the leader of a parliamentary group of intellectuals known as ''Agrupación al Servicio de la República'' ("The Grouping at the Service of the Republic"), which supported the platform of Socialist Republican candidates, but he soon abandoned politics, disappointed. Leaving Spain at the outbreak of the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
, he spent years of exile in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
until moving back to
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
in 1942. He settled in
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
by mid-1945 and slowly began to make short visits to Spain. In 1948 he returned to Madrid, where he founded the Institute of Humanities, at which he lectured. Upon his return to Spain, he often privately expressed his hostility to the Franco regime, stating that the government did not deserve anyone's confidence and that his beliefs were "incompatible with Franco."


Philosophy


Liberalism

''
The Revolt of the Masses ''The Revolt of the Masses'' ( es, La rebelión de las masas, ) is a book by José Ortega y Gasset. It was first published as a series of articles in the newspaper '' El Sol'' in 1929, and as a book in 1930; the English translation, first publis ...
'' is Ortega's best known work. In this book he defends the values of
meritocratic Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods and/or political power are vested in individual people based on talent, effort, and ac ...
liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostilit ...
reminiscent of
John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...
against attacks from both communists and right-wing populists. Ortega likewise shares Mill's fears of the "tyranny of the majority" and the "collective mediocrity" of the masses, which he believes threaten individuality, free thought, and protections for minorities. Ortega characterized liberalism as a politics of "magnanimity." Ortega's rejection of the Spanish
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
under
Antonio Cánovas del Castillo Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (8 February 18288 August 1897) was a Spanish politician and historian known principally for serving six terms as Prime Minister and his overarching role as "architect" of the regime that ensued with the 1874 restor ...
and his successors was unequivocal, as was his distrust of the Spanish monarchy and Catholic Church. However, again in a manner similar to Mill, Ortega was open-minded toward certain socialists and non-Marxist forms of socialism, and even complimented
Pablo Iglesias Posse Pablo Iglesias Posse (17 October 1850 – 9 December 1925) was a Spanish socialist and Marxist labour leader. He is regarded as the father of Spanish socialism, having founded the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 1879 and the ...
as a "lay saint." Under the influence of German social democrats such as
Paul Natorp Paul Gerhard Natorp (24 January 1854 – 17 August 1924) was a German philosopher and educationalist, considered one of the co-founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. He was known as an authority on Plato. Biography Paul Natorp was ...
and
Hermann Cohen Hermann Cohen (4 July 1842 – 4 April 1918) was a German Jewish philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century ...
, he adopted a
communitarian Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. Its overriding philosophy is based upon the belief that a person's social identity and personality are largely molded by community relati ...
ontology and could be critical of capitalism, particularly the
laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...
variant, declaring that "nineteenth-century capitalism has demoralized humanity" and that it had "impoverished the ethical consciousness of man."


"Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia"

For Ortega y Gasset, philosophy has a critical duty to lay siege to beliefs in order to promote new ideas and to explain reality. To accomplish such tasks, the philosopher must—as Husserl proposed—leave behind prejudices and previously existing beliefs, and investigate the essential reality of the universe. Ortega y Gasset proposes that philosophy must overcome the limitations of both
idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ...
(in which reality centers around the ego) and ancient-medieval
realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: * Classical Realism *Literary realism, a mov ...
(in which reality is outside the subject) to focus on the only truthful reality: "my life"—the life of each individual. He suggests that there is no "me" without things, and things are nothing without me: "I" (human being) cannot be detached from "my circumstance" (world). This led Ortega y Gasset to pronounce his famous maxim "Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia" ("I am me and my circumstance") (''Meditaciones del Quijote'', 1914) which he always put at the core of his philosophy. For Ortega y Gasset, as for Husserl, the Cartesian '
cogito ergo sum The Latin , usually translated into English as "I think, therefore I am", is the "first principle" of René Descartes's philosophy. He originally published it in French as , in his 1637 ''Discourse on the Method'', so as to reach a wider audi ...
' is insufficient to explain reality. Therefore, the Spanish philosopher proposes a system wherein the basic or "radical" reality is "my life" (the first ''yo''), which consists of "I" (the second ''yo'') and "my circumstance" (''mi circunstancia''). This ''circunstancia'' is oppressive; therefore, there is a continual dialectical interaction between the person and his or her circumstances and, as a result, life is a drama that exists between necessity and freedom. In this sense Ortega y Gasset wrote that life is at the same time fate and freedom, and that freedom "is being free inside of a given fate. Fate gives us an inexorable repertory of determinate possibilities, that is, it gives us different destinies. We accept fate and within it we choose one destiny." In this tied down fate we must therefore be active, decide and create a "project of life"—thus not be like those who live a conventional life of customs and given structures who prefer an unconcerned and imperturbable life because they are afraid of the duty of choosing a project.


Ratiovitalism

With a philosophical system that centered around life, Ortega y Gasset also stepped out of Descartes' ''
cogito ergo sum The Latin , usually translated into English as "I think, therefore I am", is the "first principle" of René Descartes's philosophy. He originally published it in French as , in his 1637 ''Discourse on the Method'', so as to reach a wider audi ...
'' and asserted "I live therefore I think". This stood at the root of his
Kantian Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The term ''Kantianism'' or ''Kantian'' is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, ...
-inspired
perspectivism Perspectivism (german: Perspektivismus; also called perspectivalism) is the epistemological principle that perception of and knowledge of something are always bound to the interpretive perspectives of those observing it. While perspectivism reg ...
, which he developed by adding a non-relativistic character in which absolute truth does exist and would be obtained by the sum of all perspectives of all lives, since for each human being life takes a concrete form and life itself is a true radical reality from which any philosophical system must derive. In this sense, Ortega coined the terms "vital reason" ( es, razón vital, "reason with life as its foundation") to refer to a new type of reason that constantly defends the life from which it has surged and "ratiovitalism" ( es, raciovitalismo), a theory that based knowledge in the radical reality of life, one of whose essential components is reason itself. This system of thought, which he introduces in ''History as System'', escaped from Nietzsche's vitalism in which life responded to impulses; for Ortega, reason is crucial to create and develop the above-mentioned project of life.


Historical reason

For Ortega y Gasset, vital reason is also "historical reason", for individuals and societies are not detached from their past. In order to understand a reality we must understand, as Dilthey pointed out, its history.


Influence

Ortega y Gasset's influence was considerable, not only because many sympathized with his philosophical writings, but also because those writings did not require that the reader be well-versed in technical philosophy. Among those strongly influenced by Ortega y Gasset were
Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
, , , Xavier Zubiri, Ignacio Ellacuría, Emilio Komar,
José Gaos José Gaos (26 December 1900, Gijón, Spain – 10 June 1969, Mexico City) was a Spanish philosopher who obtained political asylum in Mexico during the Spanish Civil War and became one of the most important Mexican philosophers of the 20th cen ...
, Luis Recasens, , Francisco Ayala,
María Zambrano María Zambrano Alarcón (22 April 1904 – 6 February 1991) was a Spanish essayist and philosopher associated with the Generation of '36 movement. Her extensive work between the civic engagement and the poetic reflection started to be r ...
, , Máximo Etchecopar,
Pedro Laín Entralgo Pedro Laín Entralgo (15 February 1908 – 5 June 2001) was a Spanish physician, historian, author and philosopher. He worked, fundamentally, on medical history and anthropology. Biography He was born in Urrea de Gaén (Teruel, Spain) in 1 ...
, ,
Julián Marías Julián Marías Aguilera (17 June 1914 – 15 December 2005) was a Spanish philosopher associated with the Generation of '36 movement. He was a pupil of the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset and member of the Madrid School.A. Pablo Ia ...
, John Lukacs,
Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence ...
, ,
Vicente Ferreira da Silva Vicente Ferreira da Silva (January 10, 1916 – July 19, 1963) was a Brazilian logician, mathematician, and philosopher. He was one of first men in Brazil history to write and have published an academic book in logic and Phenomenology. Biograph ...
, Vilém Flusser and Félix Martí-Ibáñez. The
Ortega hypothesis The Ortega hypothesis holds that average or mediocre scientists contribute substantially to the advancement of science. According to this hypothesis, scientific progress occurs mainly by the accumulation of a mass of modest, not so intelligent, nar ...
, based on a quote in ''
The Revolt of the Masses ''The Revolt of the Masses'' ( es, La rebelión de las masas, ) is a book by José Ortega y Gasset. It was first published as a series of articles in the newspaper '' El Sol'' in 1929, and as a book in 1930; the English translation, first publis ...
'', states that average or mediocre scientists contribute substantially to the advancement of
science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...
. German grape breeder Hans Breider named the grape variety Ortega in his honor. The American philosopher
Graham Harman Graham Harman (born May 9, 1968) is an American philosopher and academic. He is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. His work on the metaphysics of objects led to the developme ...
has recognized Ortega y Gasset as a source of inspiration for his own
object-oriented ontology In metaphysics, object-oriented ontology (OOO) is a 21st-century Heidegger-influenced school of thought that rejects the privileging of human existence over the existence of nonhuman objects.. This is in contrast to what it calls the "anthropocen ...
. ''La rebelión de las masas'' (''The Revolt of the Masses'') has been translated into English twice. The first, in 1932, is by a translator who wanted to remain anonymous, generally accepted to be J.R. Carey.as referenced by the Project Gutenberg eBook of U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1960 January – June. The second translation was published by the
University of Notre Dame Press The University of Notre Dame Press is a university press that is part of the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. The press was founded in 1949, and is the largest Catholic university Catholic higher education i ...
in 1985, in association with
W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton An ...
& Co. This translation was by Anthony Kerrigan (translator) and Kenneth Moore (editor), with an introduction by
Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only w ...
. Mildred Adams is the translator (into English) of the main body of Ortega's work, including ''Invertebrate Spain'', ''Man and Crisis'', ''What is Philosophy?'', ''Some Lessons in Metaphysics'', ''The Idea of Principle in Leibniz and the Evolution of Deductive Theory'', and ''An Interpretation of Universal History''.


Madrid School

The Madrid School (also School of Madrid; es, Escuela de Madrid) was a group of philosophers, the members of which were students of Ortega y Gasset, who share an intellectual tradition of arguing against naturalism and
positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...
.A. Pablo Iannone, ''Dictionary of World Philosophy', Routledge, 2013, p. 328: "Madrid School". Members included
José Gaos José Gaos (26 December 1900, Gijón, Spain – 10 June 1969, Mexico City) was a Spanish philosopher who obtained political asylum in Mexico during the Spanish Civil War and became one of the most important Mexican philosophers of the 20th cen ...
,
Julián Marías Julián Marías Aguilera (17 June 1914 – 15 December 2005) was a Spanish philosopher associated with the Generation of '36 movement. He was a pupil of the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset and member of the Madrid School.A. Pablo Ia ...
, and Xavier Zubiri.


Influence on the Generation of '27

Ortega y Gasset had considerable influence on writers of the
Generation of '27 The Generation of '27 ( es, Generación del 27) was an influential group of poets that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. ...
, a group of poets that arose in Spanish literature in the 1920s.


Works

Much of Ortega y Gasset's work consists of course lectures published years after the fact, often posthumously. This list attempts to list works in chronological order by when they were written, rather than when they were published. * ''Meditaciones del Quijote'' (''Meditations on
Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Western ...
'', 1914) * ''Vieja y nueva política'' (''Old and new politics'', 1914) * ''Investigaciones psicológicas'' (''Psychological investigations'', course given 1915–16 and published in 1982) * ''Personas, obras, cosas'' (''People, works, things'', articles and essays written 1904–1912: " Renan", "Adán en el Paraíso" – "Adam in Paradise", "La pedagogía social como programa político" – "Pedagogy as a political program", "Problemas culturales" – "Cultural problems", etc., published 1916) * ''El Espectador'' (''The Spectator'', 8 volumes published 1916–1934) * ''España invertebrada'' (''Invertebrate Spain'', 1921) * ''El tema de nuestro tiempo'' (''The Modern Theme'', 1923) * ''Las Atlántidas'' (''The Atlantises'', 1924) * ''La deshumanización del arte e Ideas sobre la novela'' (''The dehumanization of art and Ideas about the novel'', 1925) * ''Espíritu de la letra'' (''The spirit of the letter'' 1927) * ''Mirabeau o el político'' ('' Mirabeau or the politician'', 1928–1929) * ''¿Qué es filosofía?'' (''What is philosophy?'' 1928–1929, course published posthumously in 1957) * ''
Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aest ...
'' (1929–31) * ''¿Qué es conocimiento?'' (''What is knowledge?'' Published in 1984, covering three courses taught in 1929, 1930, and 1931, entitled, respectively: "Vida como ejecución (El ser ejecutivo)" – "Life as execution (The executive being)", "Sobre la realidad radical" – "On radical reality" and "¿Qué es la vida?" – "What is Life?") * ''La rebelión de las masas'' (''
The Revolt of the Masses ''The Revolt of the Masses'' ( es, La rebelión de las masas, ) is a book by José Ortega y Gasset. It was first published as a series of articles in the newspaper '' El Sol'' in 1929, and as a book in 1930; the English translation, first publis ...
'', 1930) * ''Rectificación de la República; La redención de las provincias y la decencia nacional'' (''Rectification of the Republic: Redemption of the provinces and national decency'', 1931) * ''Goethe desde dentro'' (''
Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...
from within'', 1932) * ''Unas lecciones de metafísica'' (''Some lessons in metaphysics'', course given 1932–33, published 1966) * ''En torno a Galileo'' (''About
Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
'', course given 1933–34; portions were published in 1942 under the title "Esquema de las crisis" – "Outline of crises"; Mildred Adams's translation was published in 1958 as ''Man and Crisis''.) * ''Prólogo para alemanes'' (''Prologue for Germans'', prologue to the third German edition of ''El tema de nuestro tiempo''. Ortega himself prevented its publication "because of the events of
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
in 1934". It was finally published, in Spanish, in 1958.) * ''History as a System'' (First published ''in English'' in 1935. the Spanish version, ''Historia como sistema'', 1941, adds an essay "El Imperio romano" – "The
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
"). * ''Ensimismamiento y alteración. Meditación de la técnica''. (''Self-absorption and alteration. Meditation on the technique'', 1939) * ''Ideas y creencias'' (''Ideas and beliefs: on historical reason'', a course taught in 1940
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, published 1979 along with ''Sobre la razón histórica'') * ''Teoría de Andalucía y otros ensayos – Guillermo Dilthey y la idea de vida'' (''The theory of
Andalucia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
and other essays:
Wilhelm Dilthey Wilhelm Dilthey (; ; 19 November 1833 – 1 October 1911) was a German historian, psychologist, sociologist, and hermeneutic philosopher, who held G. W. F. Hegel's Chair in Philosophy at the University of Berlin. As a polymathic philosopher, w ...
and the idea of life'', 1942) * ''Sobre la razón histórica'' (''On historical reason'', course given in
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...
, 1944, published 1979 along with ''Ideas y Crencias'') * ''Prólogo a un Tratado de Montería'' (''Preface to a treatise on the Hunt'' eparately published as ''Meditations on the Hunt'' created as preface to a book on the hunt by Count Ybes published 1944) * ''Idea del teatro. Una abreviatura'' (''The idea of theatre. An abbreviated version'', lecture given in Lisbon April 1946, and in Madrid, May 1946; published in 1958, ''La Revista Nacional de educación'' num. 62 contained the version given in Madrid.) * ''La Idea de principio en Leibniz y la evolución de la teoría deductiva'' (''The Idea of principle in
Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of ma ...
and the evolution of
deductive Deductive reasoning is the mental process of drawing deductive inferences. An inference is deductively valid if its conclusion follows logically from its premises, i.e. if it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be fals ...
theory'', 1947, published 1958) * ''Una interpretación de la historia universal. En torno a Toynbee'' (''An interpretation of universal history. On Toynbee'', 1948, published in 1960) * ''Meditación de Europa'' (''Meditation on
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
''), lecture given in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
in 1949 with the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
-language title ''De Europa meditatio quaedam''. Published 1960 together with other previously unpublished works. * ''El hombre y la gente'' (''Man and people'', course given 1949–1950 at the Institute of the Humanities, published 1957; Willard Trask's translation as ''Man and People'' published 1957; ''
Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affiliated Joh ...
'' published parts of this translation in 1952) * ''Papeles sobre Velázquez y Goya'' (''Papers on Velázquez and
Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...
'', 1950) * ''Pasado y porvenir para el hombre actual'' (''Past and future for present-day man'', published 1962, brings together a series of lectures given in Germany,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, and
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
in the period 1951–1954, published together with a commentary on
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's ''
Symposium In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...
''.) * ''Goya'' (1958) * ''Velázquez'' (1959) * ''Origen y epílogo de la filosofía'' (''Origin and epilogue of philosophy'', 1960), * ''La caza y los toros'' (''Hunting and bulls'', 1960) * ''Meditations on hunting'' (1972) translated into English by Howard B. Westcott


Bibliography


Translated books in English

*
The Revolt of the Masses ''The Revolt of the Masses'' ( es, La rebelión de las masas, ) is a book by José Ortega y Gasset. It was first published as a series of articles in the newspaper '' El Sol'' in 1929, and as a book in 1930; the English translation, first publis ...
* Invertebrate Spain * Man and Crisis * What is Knowledge? * What is Philosophy? 1964 * Some Lessons in Metaphysics 1971 * The Idea of Principle in Leibniz and the Evolution of Deductive Theory 1971 * An Interpretation of Universal History * The Dehumanization of Art and Other Essays on Art, Culture, and Literature, 1925, Princeton 2019 * On Love: Aspects of a Single Theme. 1957, 2012 * History as a System and Other Essays Toward a Philosophy of History, 1962 * Man and Crisis, 1962 (Norton Library) * Man and People, 1963 (Norton Library) * Meditations on Hunting, 1972 * The Origin of Philosophy, 1968 * Psychological Investigations 1987 * Historical Reason 1986 * Mission of the University, 2014 (International Library of Sociology)


Books about Ortega y Gasset

* Rockwell Gray - The Imperative of Modernity: An Intellectual Biography of José Ortega y Gasset * Carlos Morujão - The Philosophy of Ortega y Gasset Reevaluated * Andrew Dobson - An Introduction to the Politics and Philosophy of José Ortega y Gasset (Cambridge Iberian and Latin American Studies)


See also

*
List of liberal theorists Individual contributors to classical liberalism and political liberalism are associated with philosophers of the Enlightenment. Liberalism as a specifically named ideology begins in the late 18th century as a movement towards self-government an ...


Notes


References

* Antonio Rodríguez Huéscar
''Jose Ortega y Gasset's Metaphysical Innovation: A Critique and Overcoming of Idealism''
SUNY Press, 1995. * John T. Graham
''A Pragmatist Philosophy of Life in Ortega y Gasset''
University of Missouri Press, 1994. * John T. Graham
''Theory of History in Ortega y Gasset: "The Dawn of Historical Reason"''"> ''Theory of History in Ortega y Gasset: "The Dawn of Historical Reason"''
University of Missouri Press, 1997. * John T. Graham
''The Social Thought of Ortega y Gasset: A Systematic Synthesis in Postmodernism and Interdisciplinarity''
University of Missouri Press. 2001. * Howard N. Tuttle
''Human Life Is Radical Reality: An Idea Developed from the Conceptions of Dilthey, Heidegger, and Ortega y Gasset''
Peter Lang, 2004. * Pedro Blas Gonzalez
''Human Existence as Radical Reality: Ortega y Gasset's Philosophy of Subjectivity''
Paragon House, 2005. * Pedro Blas Gonzalez
''Ortega's 'The Revolt of the Masses' and the Triumph of the New Man''
Algora Publishing, 2007. *
Joxe Azurmendi Joxe Azurmendi Otaegi (born 19 March 1941) is a Basque writer, philosopher, essayist and poet. He has published numerous articles and books on ethics, politics, the philosophy of language, technique, Basque literature and philosophy in general ...
: "Ortega y Gasset" in ''Espainiaren arimaz'', Donostia: Elkar, 2006. * Andrew Dobson
''An Introduction to the Politics and Philosophy of José Ortega y Gasset''
Oxford University Press, 2009. *


External links


A Bibliography of Works in English By and About José Ortega y Gasset

Fundación José Ortega y Gasset
''Spain''
Fundación José Ortega y Gasset
''Argentina'' * Holmes, Oliver
"José Ortega y Gasset"
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...
(Summer 2011 Edition),
Edward N. Zalta Edward Nouri Zalta (; born March 16, 1952) is an American philosopher who is a senior research scholar at the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University. He received his BA at Rice University in 1975 and his PhD from ...
(ed.). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortega Y Gasset, Jose 1883 births 1955 deaths 20th-century essayists 20th-century Spanish male writers 20th-century Spanish philosophers 20th-century Spanish writers Complutense University of Madrid Complutense University of Madrid alumni Continental philosophers Cultural critics Epistemologists Existentialists Members of the Congress of Deputies of the Second Spanish Republic Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Moral philosophers Ontologists People from Madrid Phenomenologists Philosophers of art Philosophers of culture Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of history Philosophers of mind Philosophers of science Philosophy writers Rationality theorists Spanish social commentators Social critics Social philosophers Spanish anti-capitalists Spanish anti-communists Spanish anti-fascists Spanish editors Spanish essayists Spanish literary critics Spanish male non-fiction writers Spanish political philosophers Spanish political writers Spanish socialists University of Deusto alumni Vitalists Spanish magazine founders