Ortega y Gasset’s Philosophy: Perspectivism, Vital Reason & Life
Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955)
Historical Context
Ortega y Gasset belonged to the Generation of ’14, a group of Spanish intellectuals active in the first half of the 20th century. This period witnessed diverse political shifts in Spain, including the end of the Spanish empire and the rise of the Republic. Internationally, it was a time of great upheaval, marked by the First World War, the Russian Revolution, the Second World War, and the Cold War. Ortega was deeply concerned about Spanish politics, leading him to actively participate in political groups and publications.
Socially, the growing influence of the middle class and mass participation in politics were seen as potential threats to society. Culture became more accessible to all social classes, and art movements spurred changes in various creative fields. Science underwent a revolution, with its destructive power becoming increasingly apparent. Philosophy also experienced a revolution, becoming more diverse than ever before. Ortega’s thought was influenced by neo-Kantianism, Dilthey’s historicism, and the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger.
Ortega’s Philosophy
Theory of Knowledge: Perspectivism
Ortega argued that we can only know reality from our particular circumstances, our personal situation, and perspectives. This theory, known as Perspectivism, suggests that no knowledge can be considered complete or definitive. New perspectives can always emerge, integrating past views or offering new interpretations. True knowledge arises from the integration of diverse viewpoints. The objective is to seek new perspectives that contribute to a closer approximation of the truth. Ortega’s Perspectivism distinguishes itself from both skepticism and relativism by emphasizing the importance of integrating multiple perspectives to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of reality.
Vital Reason
Ortega believed that understanding life requires a reason capable of grasping its dynamic and historical nature. He proposed a vital reason that is simultaneously historical and narrative:
- Vital Reason: Reflects on the structure of life and understands its continuous improvisation.
- Historical Reason: Recognizes the temporal nature of life and the need to understand the historical dimension of human existence.
- Narrative Reason: Explains the human being as a creature defined not by a fixed nature but by history. It seeks to understand our past and how it shapes who we are.
Ortega’s Concept of Philosophy
Ortega’s philosophy is characterized by several key ideas:
- The Necessity of Intellect: Humans must philosophize, moving beyond simplistic explanations of the world to seek out problems and contribute to a clearer understanding of reality.
- Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Humans need philosophy to understand how to live and navigate the world. Philosophy provides a fundamental orientation in our relationship with ourselves, others, and the world around us.
- Philosophy from a Personal Starting Point: Philosophy should be built from the ground up, taking one’s own life and particular circumstances as the fundamental reality.
- The Value of Revealing Problems: The value of philosophy lies not only in providing solutions but also in revealing unavoidable problems that must be confronted.
Critique of Realism and Idealism
Ortega’s philosophy critiques both realist and idealist traditions:
- Critique of Realism: Ortega criticizes realism for assuming the existence of a reality independent of the knowing subject.
- Critique of Idealism: He criticizes idealism for overemphasizing the subject’s role in knowledge, ultimately reducing things to their existence in the consciousness of a subject.
Ortega proposes a new perspective that emphasizes the interdependence of subject and object. He argues that it is more accurate to speak of a subject-object interrelationship.
The Concept of Life as the Fundamental Reality
Ortega asserts that the primary philosophical problem is life itself, as it is the fundamental reality that we encounter first and foremost. Life is the ultimate reality, as all other forms of reality presuppose it. Ortega refers specifically to our individual lives.
To study life, Ortega suggests that we must consider:
- Our essential circumstantiality.
- The importance of our individual selves. We are active agents who interact with and shape our circumstances, building our own human projects.
Ortega emphasizes the interdependence between self and world, the interactive coexistence of subject and reality. This is expressed in his famous thesis: “I am myself and my circumstances, and if I do not save it, I do not save myself.”
Categories or Attributes of Life
Ortega describes life as possessing several key characteristics or attributes:
- Life is what we are and what we do.
- Life is to feel alive, to be aware of our existence.
- Life is found in the world, in our given circumstances.
- Life is always unexpected because the world we inhabit is not of our choosing.
- Life is a problem we must solve personally because we are free to choose how to act, even though we cannot escape the circumstances that shape our lives.
- Life is our being, and as we live, we grow and change.
- Life is temporary and projected towards the future (futurición).
Historicity of Human Life
Ortega highlights the historical dimension of human life. Humans do not have a fixed nature; we are not always the same. Our freedom implies making choices among various possibilities. Our lives are shaped not by instincts but by our historical circumstances. To understand human beings, Ortega proposes a historical analysis method called the generation method.
Ortega notes that historical changes are not continuous. There are periods of stability, which he calls generations, each lasting about 15 years. The relationship between a generation and the previous one can be:
- Consistency: Both generations share similar interests, leading to a cumulative time.
- Heterogeneity: Generations have divergent interests, resulting in a revolutionary era.
Ortega distinguishes between two human types: the mass, which tends to follow fixed patterns, conserve the status quo, and live in the present; and the minority, which seeks to break the mold and live towards the future.
Aristotle’s Theory of Knowledge
Aristotle, in contrast to Plato, believed that all knowledge originates from experience. He recognized that sensory knowledge is the starting point for understanding. However, he argued that we must move beyond sensory knowledge to intellectual knowledge through a process called abstraction. This involves separating individual forms from their concrete manifestations for study. We begin with concrete, individual substances, form images in our imagination, and then the agent intellect abstracts the essence, allowing the passive intellect to understand it.