Ortega y Gasset: Spanish Philosophy in Historical Perspective

José Ortega y Gasset: A Biographical Sketch

José Ortega y Gasset was born in Madrid in 1883, into a liberal and enlightened bourgeois family. His mother owned the newspaper El Imparcial, where his father served as director. Ortega alternated his dedication between philosophy and journalism, acting as a prominent political theorist of his time. He staunchly defended Republican ideology.

After his exile, he returned to Spain in 1945 and passed away ten years later. Ortega's intellectual trajectory is typically divided into three periods: objectivist, ratiovitalist, and perspectivist.

Historical and Cultural Context of Ortega's Era

This period holds significant importance in the recent history of Spain and the world. In Spain, the Bourbon Restoration occurred under Alfonso XII, during which the Disaster of '98 took place. This was followed by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. In 1931, the Second Republic was proclaimed, leading to the Spanish Civil War.

Subsequently, economic and political conditions rendered Spain a comparatively backward society within Europe, relying almost exclusively on the agricultural sector.

Globally, key developments included:

• The rise of communism and socialism.
• The expansion of capitalism.
• The 1917 Russian Revolution.
• World War II.

Culturally, there was a noticeable decline, marked by high illiteracy rates. This decline prompted a reaction from intellectuals and artists, leading to the emergence of avant-garde movements in literature, painting, and film.

Philosophical Influences on Ortega y Gasset

During Ortega's lifetime, several philosophical currents were prominent:

• Those strictly related to ontological questions: idealism, Neo-Kantianism, existentialism, vitalism, historicism.
• Those characterized by an interest in language and problems of science: logical positivism, structuralism.
• Areas that focused on social issues: Marxism, psychoanalysis.

Three key philosophical positions significantly influenced Ortega's thought:

1. Edmund Husserl's phenomenology: Particularly during Ortega's objectivist period. Ortega often criticized the Spanish cultural scene for its excessive subjectivism and personalism, which he believed caused a significant delay compared to European intellectual developments.
2. Wilhelm Dilthey's historicism: This concept emphasized that the ultimate reality—life itself—must be understood in its historical dimension, meaning it is constantly changing over time.
3. Martin Heidegger's existentialist ontology: As developed in his seminal work, Being and Time.