The philosophy of José ORTEGA and GASSET

In this lesson from a TEACHER we will explain the philosophy of Jose Ortega y Gasset, based on the life of the human being and the realization of it. Life is for this brilliant thinker one radical reality, being the reason, one of its basic elements. Thus, his ideas are embedded within the philosophical current vitalist. This means that the core of all philosophical interest must be life.

If you want to know more about the philosophy of Ortega y Gasset, continue reading this lesson from a PROFESSOR.

Index

1. Ortega y Gasset and the philosophy of circumstance and possibility
2. Objectivism in the philosophy of Ortega y Gasset
3. Ortega's perspectivism
4. Ratiovitalism as an overcoming of rationalism and vitalism

Ortega starts from a thought objectivist that derives in a perspectivism and that ends up being a ratiovitalism. Because the philosophy of Ortega y Gasset tries to go beyond vitalism and rationalism, to overcome them. Unlike other vitalist authors such as

“I am me and my circumstance, and if I don't save her, I won't save myself”

The famous quote from the Spanish philosopher that appears in his popular work Other meditations of Don Quixote, It means that the human being is the result of his environment and between the two there is an indissoluble union. The own circumstance of each individual conditions his life, his freedom, his decisions and based on this, he has a certain point of view of the world. And it is the reason that lets the human being see these limitations.

The human being is making himself with each decision he makes, with each choice. Being authentic consists of having the will to fulfill the life project of each one. But for its realization it takes time, and to take advantage of every moment, which is unique and unrepeatable. Each human being has a vital project, and in order to fulfill it, he must make possible what, in principle, seems to limit him.

In this first phase of Ortega y Gasset's philosophy, the influence of Kantian idealismas well as the Husserl. Nietzsche, Dilthey and Scheler. Ideas, or things are superior to people, goes so far as to affirm the Spanish philosopher in this stage.

At this time, the philosophy of the thinker is reminiscent of that of KrauseBut his way of approaching the question of the intellectual regeneration of the country and the concept of him the mass-man, provoked a certain rejection among the Krausists. This is why Ortega did not participate with this movement.

In his most important work, the Rebelion of the mass, Ortega you can read the following:

“There is a fact that, for better or for worse, is the most important in European public life at the present time. This fact is the advent of the masses to full social power. As the masses, by definition, should not and cannot direct their own existence, let alone run the society, it means that Europe is now suffering the most serious crisis than peoples, nations, cultures, suffer. This crisis has occurred more than once in history. Its appearance and its consequences are known. His name is also known. It's called the rebellion of the masses. "

Ortega y Gasset considers that for the regeneration of Spain, which in the intellectual and scientific field is below Europe, consists of find an objective, scientific method. Because the Spanish people, says the philosopher, are trapped in the subjective, they do not live in the real world, but in a dream.

Affirms the primacy of existence over consciousness. Truth is understood as that which corresponds to existence and reason constitutes the method.

"Don Quixote Meditations" start the way to him perspectivism, a path opposite to objectivism.

The phase perspectivist it radically contradicts his initial position. Perspectivism is a philosophical doctrine that defends the existence of different points of view, so every idea is subjective. Each person sees the world from a certain point of view and fixes his gaze in his own direction.

Reality, therefore, is nothing more than a matter of perspective, and this is how the subject sees the world. Thus, each individual has his own conception of the world, her own truth, and it is possible until the truth of him is opposed to that of the rest.

And all the different points of view, the set of all the perspectives, added to the hidden part, the part that cannot be seen, constitute The absolute truth. In this sense, each truth is only one truth half.

Finally, Ortega y Gasset takes the step from perspectivism to ratiovitalism, and opposes rationalism and vitalism in regard to his concept of me. On Don Quixote Meditations he and he let see his philosophy of the circumstance ("I am me and my circumstance").

Nietzsche's vitalism was more individualistic, it does not consist in connecting with others, but in the will to power, this is the only thing that matters. It is, therefore, more selfish, although it must not be forgotten, that it cries before Turin horse, with which he apologizes for the atrocities committed in the name of the rationalism of Discards, which denied all moral consideration to nonhuman animals, thereby subjecting them to human beings.

In this stage, Ortega will make a series of criticisms of pragmatism, since he does not accept as true anything that is not verifiable, reducing truth to usefulness; to the rationalism, whom he accuses of setting limits to human reason and of not being able to see the concrete of reality, attending only to the abstract; and finally opposes the vitalism that reduces life to organic.

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If you want to read more articles similar to The philosophy of José Ortega y Gasset - summary, we recommend that you enter our category of Philosophy.

• Ortega y Gasset, J. the Rebelion of the mass. Ed. Espasa. 1999
• Ortega y Gasset, J. Don Quixote Meditations. Ed. Alliance. 2014