Ortega y Gasset’s Philosophy: Vital Reason and Context
Ortega’s Vital Reason Explained
This text addresses the fundamental ideas of José Ortega y Gasset, specifically the need to overcome the opposition between rationalism and vitalism. Ortega proposed integrating both concepts, reason and life, into a unified framework: Vital Reason (Razón Vital). The philosopher sought to resolve the historical clash between rationalism, dominant in the 17th and 18th centuries, and Nietzschean vitalism. While rationalism prioritizes human knowledge through reason, vitalism often leans towards irrationality and relativism.
Historical Context: Spain and Europe
Ortega lived through a pivotal period in Spanish history, spanning the Restoration, the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the Second Republic, the Civil War, and the early Franco dictatorship. Spain’s social structure was characterized by slow and late industrialization, concentrated land ownership, and widespread illiteracy – issues Ortega actively combatted. In Europe, this era witnessed two World Wars and intensified struggles between the working class and capitalism. Following World War II, a new international order emerged, leading into the Cold War. Spain began a slow path toward modernization, both culturally and philosophically. Ortega played a fundamental role in this process, opening Spain to contemporary European philosophical thought.
Ortega vs. Nietzsche: Contrasting Views
Ortega harshly criticized the concept of life central to Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy. He rejected Nietzschean vitalism, viewing it as a complete embrace of irrationalism. Ortega argued that if we succumb to irrationalism, we cease to be human, losing the capacity for reason to make plans and set goals based on established standards. The two philosophers also differed significantly in their valuation of philosophy itself. Nietzsche, the great critic of Western civilization, saw philosophy as a symptom of decline. In contrast, Ortega championed the necessity of philosophy, asserting that renouncing it means abandoning our innate drive to wonder, question the world, and ultimately, stop being fully human.
Ratiovitalism and Historical Reason
Ortega believed that prioritizing reason over life neglects the essential foundation of existence: life itself. However, simply giving predominance to life, as vitalism does, is not the solution because it ignores a crucial aspect of human nature: reason. To resolve this dichotomy, Ortega developed an intermediate concept: Vital Reason, or Ratiovitalism. His view posits that there is no reason without life, nor life without reason. It is erroneous to treat reason as separate from life, yet equally wrong to reduce the complexity of human existence solely to life, as Nietzschean vitalism attempts. Ortega’s Ratiovitalism offers a new approach, overcoming both rationalistic dogmatism and the relativism inherent in vitalism, resolving the opposition between reason and life highlighted by thinkers like Nietzsche.
This theory allowed Ortega to develop a philosophy grounded in everyday reality and the specific philosophical and historical context in which one lives. Every individual’s life project unfolds within a historical setting; we formulate our goals from the perspective of our unique historical situation. Ortega identified what he termed the “inveterate mistake” of “ahistorical reason” – the error of assuming any single philosophical system can be universally valid forever. Human reason, he argued, is inherently framed by its historical situation and reflects its time. Therefore, truth can only be grasped from a specific perspective (perspectivism). This does not imply that truth is non-existent (which would lead back to relativism). Instead, from the standpoint of Ratiovitalism, the complete truth emerges from the synthesis of all individual perspectives throughout history. This concept is often referred to as Historical Reason.