Nietzsche and Ortega y Gasset: A Comparison of Philosophies
Ortega y Gasset
Life
For Ortega y Gasset, life, guided by reason and based on freedom and continuous choices, is the only reality.
Ideas
Concepts built by the intellect, but always in the context of life, hence the term “occurrences”—what happens to a person.
Historical Sense
Human life isn’t fixed, but rather its history; what one does throughout life. Man is his actions, not a static being.
Occurrences
Ortega y Gasset defines these as the real ideas a person experiences.
Beliefs
Concepts or categories held without being lived; their origin unknown, yet present in the mind without personal activity. Ortega y Gasset calls these “ill-named ideas.”
Reasoning
The highest form of perfection achieved through logic.
Reality Itself
Human life guided by reason.
Paragon
A comparison or similarity.
Volition
Acts of will.
Intellectualism
Knowledge of all fundamental aspects of being in the world; the manifestation and knowledge of a universe composed of many individuals.
Philosophy
A doctrine or theory presenting man as intelligent, but neglecting his natural reality. It deals with abstract realities and thus falsifies the vision of man.
Doubt
Denial of stability.
History
Science founded on the dialectic of living reason; the study of human progress guided by reason.
Poetry
The world of fantasy and imagination.
Certainty
The security of knowledge derived from life itself. For Ortega y Gasset, real life is a life of what happens to us.
Methodical or Intellectual
The security not derived from what we think, but from life.
Paradox
A preposterous claim.
Nietzsche
Religion
A dependency link uniting man with higher powers, upon which he feels dependent and to which he offers individual and collective worship.
Truth
Nietzsche considered life itself to be true and good, opposing all religion. Life is lush, desirable, and against limitation.
Immoralist
While declaring himself an immoralist, Nietzsche defends a morality: the clash of values in society, specifically vitalism versus Christian tradition.
Revaluation of All Values
A total change of the axiological table governing human life, banishing all that is unnatural or contrary to life, making man unhappy and hypocritical, and preventing him from living. Life is the center of all values.
Self-Gnosis
Using universal knowledge for axiological assessments and standards.
Mendacity
The custom or habit of lying.
Great Politics
Preparatory change to achieve the state of superman. Nietzsche didn’t fully explain this due to his untimely death. (It encourages individualism over mediocrity.)
Dionysian Nature
A vigorous source of pleasure, renewal, and destruction manifested in Greek tragedy, but relegated in Western culture.
Zarathustra
A Persian moralist (circa 7th century BC) who featured the fight between good (life) and evil (what limits life). Nietzsche called him a disciple of an unknown God.
Moral
Provisions determining human behavior. For Nietzsche, precepts against life are false, while those enhancing life are true.
Christian Morality
Precepts determining human behavior for an eternal good. Nietzsche views this morality as unnatural, against life, and calls it the “metaphysics of the hangman.” He criticizes Christianity for limiting life based on dogmas and preventing human development, leading to the decline of the West.
Deny and Annihilate to Say Yes
A positive sense of nihilism: denying and destroying false values to build new, vital ones. This is the only way out for Western man.
Reality
Life, both demographically and ecologically, is what we experience through our senses; human life in its full vital realization.
Mendacity of Instinct
The custom of lying or deceiving, distorting feelings for convenience, lack of knowledge, or tradition. Nietzsche calls this cowardice—being swayed by the false and unnatural.
Herbert Spencer
The positivist philosopher and founder of evolution.
Chinoiserie
A gathering of despicable people.
The Last Men = Beginning of the End
The domain of Christianity, leading to the decay and ruin of man. This morality and these inferior men must be overcome.
A Decadent Kind of Man
One based on traditional morality, limiting life and changing true values. This lesser man must be overcome and discarded.
Poisonous Encouragement of that Ideal
An attack on the dogmatism of Christian morality, which has destroyed Western civilization. The crime against life is Christian morality, unnatural and contrary to life.
Categorical Imperative
An attack on traditional morality, as a universal moral law cannot be generalized based on life or the individual. Life’s morality is individual, the superman who forgets the community, independent and individualistic.