Ortega y Gasset’s Ratio-Vitalism: A New Metaphysics
Ortega y Gasset’s Dynamic Metaphysics
However, this data is not a static, hieratic, substantial radical, which allows capture of the categories of traditional metaphysics. Its essential dynamic nature requires that we try to grasp it with a new terminology, one that explores language to give meaning to those words that allow us to express this dynamic property, which presents the most radical and incontrovertible truth.
In his essay “What is Philosophy?”, Ortega explains that we must pursue new, radical
Read MoreAncient Greek Philosophers and their Influence on Western Thought
Influences:
Presocratics
- Heraclitus: Everything changes; the sensible world is in flux.
- Parmenides: Importance of reason, identification between thinking and being, distrust of the senses to grasp the truth, being is unchanging and one.
- Zeno: Dialectical importance of rational discussion.
- Pythagoreans: Interest in mathematical knowledge, immortality of the soul.
- Anaxagoras: Nous (Demiurge) as an ordering intelligence.
Sophists
- Emphasis on human interests, politics, ethics, and the importance of education.
The Power of Reason: Exploring the Unknown and the Divine
Chapter 14: The Power of Reason
The power of reason lies in its intuition that explanations extend beyond our immediate grasp. The driving force of reason is vitality, a willingness to venture into the unknown. This tension, this drive to explore the unseen, defines the power of human reason. Ultimately, all efforts of reason culminate in the knowledge of God. The impetus is to unveil the mystery behind what we perceive and touch. Only through a relationship with the afterlife can we truly embrace
Read MoreNietzsche’s Philosophy: Metaphysics, Death of God, and Nihilism
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Foundations of Ethical Action: Morality, Freedom, and Conscience
Foundations of Ethical Action
Reasons for the Good
- Theological Reasons: God is the author of universal order and legislator of our behavior. The rules of the divine nature can be embedded in human nature or have been positive in some commands.
- Natural Reasons: Before developing or acquiring historical standards, human nature entails universal and obvious requirements that must be respected unconditionally. Aristotelianism and natural law doctrines defend this justification of moral duty.
- Social Reasons:
Immanuel Kant: Bridging Enlightenment and Romanticism
Immanuel Kant
Bridging Enlightenment and Romanticism
Besides the cultural ideals of the Enlightenment that swept Europe, social and political events such as the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, the glorification of Germanic culture, and the beginnings of Romanticism influenced intellectual thought. Kant, positioned between Enlightenment and Romanticism, played a crucial role in the recognition and expansion of the German language. While the Enlightenment promoted universality, Romanticism encouraged
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