Philosophical Biographies: Kant, Nietzsche, and Ortega y Gasset

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)

Kant lived his entire life in Königsberg, Prussia. As a professor at the local university, his thinking was influenced by both rationalism and empiricism, establishing him as the most important philosopher of the eighteenth century. A proponent of Enlightenment liberal ideals, he defended the American and French Revolutions. He was a peaceful man, free from nationalism, with a methodical constitution so precise that neighbors could set their clocks by his daily schedule.

Most Important Works

• Critique of Pure Reason
• Critique of Practical Reason

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

Born in Germany to a pastor, Nietzsche received a solid liberal education with a deep sensitivity to music. He began suffering from chronic health issues, including severe headaches, early in life. He studied classical philology, which led him to the work of Schopenhauer. Initially, he admired Wagner, though their relationship eventually fractured. Appointed professor of classical philology in Basel, Switzerland, he eventually left due to worsening health, living between the Mediterranean and the Swiss Alps. At forty-five, he suffered a collapse in Turin, spending his final ten years in a near-vegetative state, cared for by his mother and sister, who manipulated and falsified passages of his work.

Most Important Works

• The Gay Science
• Thus Spoke Zarathustra
• Beyond Good and Evil
• The Genealogy of Morals

José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955)

Born in Madrid into a liberal, enlightened family, his mother's family owned the newspaper El Imparcial, and his father served as its director. He studied philosophy at the University of Madrid and visited various German universities. He won the Chair of Metaphysics at the Central University and founded the newspaper El Sol and the Revista de Occidente, which he also directed. His opposition to the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera led him to resign his professorship, though he continued teaching at the Rex Theater and the Infanta Beatriz. During the Second Republic, he founded the "Group to Serve the Republic" alongside Pérez de Ayala and Marañón. At the start of the Spanish Civil War, he went into exile, teaching in Paris, Holland, and Argentina. He eventually moved to Portugal before returning to Spain in 1945, where he founded the Institute for Humanities.

Most Important Works

• What is Philosophy?
• The Revolt of the Masses