Ortega y Gasset: Historical, Cultural, and Philosophical Context
Historical Context
Ortega wrote after the upheavals that followed World War I (1914), with the rise of Soviet communism and the Italian fascists, and the Nazi responses of Germany. The general feeling was to live in a very strong, very difficult time, marked by the revolution, which saw great hope but also great fears.
Cultural Context
The culture of the early twentieth century was a revolution in relation to the previous one. It is the time of the vanguards of the new: cubism, surrealism, etc. At this stage, Ortega is consistent in venturing into a new way of seeing reality. It seems curiously similar to what Picasso proposes in cubism when making tables in which the figures are viewed from several perspectives simultaneously. Ortega certainly did not intend to be as transgressive as the work of Picasso, but to impose his wisdom and common sense. Still, his work was also a test of innovation.
Philosophical Context
The twentieth century is marked by the crisis of rationalism of earlier centuries, as reason appears to be insufficient to explain all of reality, as already stated by Nietzsche. The answers to rationalism are vitality, taking into account the emotional and practical experience of human beings. In that great philosophical impulse lies Ortega’s renewal, whose affinity with vitalism and with the concrete, rather than abstract rationalism, is evident in his perspectivism. In this line, perspectivism is a particular form of vitalism, as it is partial knowledge, taking into account the eye of each living subject, different each of the others, with different experiences and situations that create different perspectives.
News and Legacy
Ortega constantly influenced the different movements of his time. He called the masses to rebellion, since he argued that society was composed of a large mass without ideals or personality. So, he moved to the elite to awaken people from their ignorance. The Civil War caused many intellectuals to break up; some went into exile, while Spain was unaware of phenomenology, Marxism, existentialism, and analytical philosophy. Ortega’s death was a shock to Europe and America, and it promoted many young teachers and philosophers to commit against Francoism. After the renewal and standardization of philosophy, European and American currents were fully integrated. Spanish philosophy aims to bring the work of some thinkers, such as Ortega and Zubiri, at a time when that philosophy can be released.
Ortega’s perspectivism seems very current because most people today speak of “my truth” and “your truth” and claim the right for both to exist as if they were complementary, which is perspectivism. But even today, we are seeing the disadvantages because if what I say is worth the same as what you say, what need is there to discuss or even to study? In this case, what a student says would be worth the same as the teacher’s explanations. That is why it may be necessary in the future to go beyond simple perspectivism, as Ortega assumed, and to reach a human point of view in which all points of view fall, but knowing that some are more solid and real than others.