Understanding Ortega’s Philosophical Stages and Perspectives
Stage of His Thought An Objectivist (1902-1910): This is the stage of formation, which included his stay in Germany. Ortega published articles only. Concerned about the gap between Spain and Europe, which may only be overcome if one eliminates subjectivism and dominant personality. This method requires critique, rationality, and objectivity. He maintains that one must treat men as things, leading to anti-humanism and objectivism, which he later recanted.
2 Perspectives (1910-1923): In 1913, two very important philosophical events occurred for Ortega: Husserl and the irrationalism of Unamuno. The two major themes of this period are circumstance and perspective. In 1914, he published Meditations on Don Quixote.
3 Ratiovitalism (1923-1955): The stage of maturity begins with the subject as a member of our time. Following the rebellion of the masses and various ideas and beliefs, Ortega critiques Socrates. With Plato, he made a discovery regarding reason. The theme of Socrates consisted of trying to dislodge spontaneous life to supplant pure reason, but it was discovered that this bordered on the irrational. Ortega defined this as ratiovitalism, pretending to be a medium that recognizes the value of reason and brings it to life.
Perspective: Circumstance and Perspective: This is the second stage of his philosophy, which Ortega developed around 1914 when he published Meditations on Don Quixote. Ortega discovered the theme of circumstantiality.
Critical Realism and Idealism: The claim that life is a fundamental reality imposes on Ortega these criticisms. Both fall into the mistake of ignoring the radical reality of life. For realism, true reality exists in things themselves, regardless of the self, which becomes something else. This is ridiculous because the self is who experiences things. Realism has failed to give importance to the self and has been absorbed in the outside world. Science, as realism, has forgotten that the human being is one thing and that it is false to speak of human nature. Human life is not an object and therefore has no nature; man has a history. The physico-mathematical reason is valid for measuring and calculating, but when addressing human life, it slips away.
The idealism dissolves the outside world for the ego. For Ortega, one cannot speak of things without the ego, but neither can one speak of the things I do without the ego. The ultimate reality cannot be the cogito of Descartes, but the thought alone thinking of things. There is only a self that coexists with the world and preserves its privacy, authenticity, and is inseparable from things. This is the fundamental truth.
The Fact: Since the publication of Meditations on Don Quixote, Ortega introduces the topic of circumstantiality. According to Ortega, from the reflection of things, we gradually rise to the most distant. The term includes both facts and physical realities that are beyond, as well as the point in time, understood as the accumulation of past and future projects. The fact encompasses all that is involved in human life and is to be used by Its Perspective: as life is circumstantial, life is a view of the universe. The fact of my life is possible and, therefore, contributes from the particular perspective that reveals the truth of things. This does not validate the position of dogmatism, which concludes that no truth can claim such status. The correct position is that truth has many faces, and depending on the perspective from which we look, it will offer different insights. Reality is to assimilate this perspective, the circumstances through which I interpret, without rejecting the perspectives and visions of others. Each view captures a part of the truth and should be integrated, embracing the multiplicity of them.
Ortega speaks of the need to assess others beyond ourselves as having their own value. The value lies in their disagreement with me, because disagreement is a sign of their autonomy in dealing with things. This leads to the conclusion that the other will be more valuable to the extent that they are more true to their individuality. The solution to the problem of coexistence lies in the synthesis of perspectives, which can be summarized with tolerance. Tolerance means accepting that the positions of others have the same right to exist as mine. The term perspective encompasses two different aspects. All perspectives are based on both pre-spective and pro-spective. As pre-spective, it offers a number of a priori items, shaped by the subject’s experiences that influence how they see, and the a priori cordial, which includes emotions, feelings, interests, etc. As pro-spective, it is oriented to the future, a future that is not closed and must be shaped. The prospect allows us to face the truth from the point of view of individuality, but in a way that is compatible and capable of adding to the truth of others. My finitude allows me to encompass only what is within my circumstances. One can access the full truth based on the sum of partial truths. However, there is an absolute truth that is only accessible to an absolute reason, that of God.