Ortega y Gasset vs. Nietzsche: Vitalism and Rationality

Comparison of Ortega and Nietzsche: Shared Foundations

Both philosophers agree on a philosophy rooted in the temporal reality of life as experienced by the individual, primarily related to vitalism:

• Rejection of rationalism: They reject the conception of reason as a faculty for pure, transcendental knowledge of absolute, universal, and abstract truth, or as a subject of pure and formal thinking.
• Rejection of idealism: They reject the identification of the thinking self (consciousness) as the fundamental reality and the affirmation of abstract ideals of reason as the true reality.

Ortega's Departure from Nietzsche

Ortega differs from Nietzsche in several key areas:

• Vital Reason: Ortega is not strictly irrational; he links reason to life. Reason is a function of life, where ideas and rational values of culture integrate with the immediacy and spontaneity of existence.
• Historical Context: These are vital reasons localized in time and history, which determine the circumstances of the self.
• Practical Function: The purpose of reason is to resolve the task of living. Each individual creates a vital project that is personal, subjective, and rational—real and true, though not universal or eternal—immersed in a society, era, generation, and historical tradition.

Nietzsche's Vitalist Perspective

Nietzsche, conversely, is a vitalist who gives primacy to the body's instincts and intuitions over conceptual knowledge and moral values. He is radically materialist and atheist, claiming earthly life against the concept of afterworlds. He asserts there is no truth, only ratings driven by the will to power. This implies a philosophy that is:

• Anti-rationalist: It denies the truth of concepts and sensible intuition, viewing the world as a vital form of knowledge, whereas Ortega is not irrational.
• Relativistic: Reality is appearance; it is an individual, incommunicable perspective that cannot be conceptually captured, denying the possibility of the universal and eternal.

Anti-cultural: Nietzsche views that which is unnatural in culture as a hindrance to life.