Truth, Reason, and Life in Ortega y Gasset’s Philosophy

Posted on Nov 29, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

Ortega y Gasset’s Philosophy

The Doctrine of View from The Modern Theme

This text, an epistemological fragment from Chapter X of Ortega y Gasset’s The Modern Theme (1923), marks the transition from perspectivism to ratio-vitalism. This philosophical renewal transcends life itself, bridging the divide between reason and life. In the first chapter, Ortega y Gasset introduces his theory of generations, arguing that his contemporaries held the responsibility to revitalize Spain’s stagnant intellectual climate, a situation mirroring Europe’s broader intellectual anticipation. He presents a philosophical premise for his generation: to overcome the inherited dichotomy between a devitalized rationalism and an intelligence-devoid vitalism. His goal was to transcend rationalism, not by eliminating reason, but by challenging its exclusivity.

Key Ideas from The Doctrine of View

  1. Overcoming Rationalism and Relativism: Ortega y Gasset advocates for a synthesis of culture (right) and life. He critiques rationalism for its assertion of a singular, subject-dependent truth and relativism for its skeptical view of a knower-distorted reality.
  2. Perspectivism: This theory of knowledge posits that reality has multiple facets. Individuals select and organize these facets, developing unique perspectives shaped by their circumstances. Ortega y Gasset’s famous dictum, “I am myself and my circumstances,” highlights the interconnectedness of self and world, forming individual realities.
  3. Complete Truth as a Sum of Perspectives: The only false perspective is the one claiming to be unique, a characteristic of traditional philosophy’s pure reason. Complete truth arises from the aggregation of partial truths, or perspectives.
  4. From Pure Reason to Vital and Historical Reason: Ortega y Gasset argues for replacing the rationalist utopia of pure reason with a vital and historical reason.
  5. God as a Perspective: Even God is considered a point of view.

Ortega y Gasset: A Brief Overview

Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) was a prominent Spanish journalist, university professor, and philosopher. He served as a deputy in the Second Republic’s Constituent Cortes and later lived in exile. His philosophical influences included Greek philosophers, Leibniz, Velázquez, Neo-Kantians, Nietzsche, and historicism. For Ortega y Gasset, philosophy was a fundamental human need, a path to both happiness (Aristotle) and truth (Aletheia).

Ortega y Gasset’s Approach to Philosophy

Ortega y Gasset proposed a philosophical approach guided by three imperatives:

  • Autonomy: Think independently, free from prejudice.
  • Universalism: Seek universal truths.
  • Essentiality: Address absolute problems and challenge the immediate.

Three Periods in Ortega y Gasset’s Philosophy

  1. Objectivism: This early stage prioritizes things and views science as the means to understand them. Ortega y Gasset highlighted the disparity between Spain and Europe, advocating for intellectual reform and science as a path out of decline.
  2. Perspectivism: This period critiques both realism (objectivism) for its view of reality as independent from the subject and idealism (subjectivism) for its belief that reality is a mental construct. Ortega y Gasset proposed perspectivism as a unifying theory of knowledge, linking self and world.
  3. Ratio-vitalism: This mature stage integrates perspectivism and reason with life. Ortega y Gasset critiques vitalism for its dismissal of reason and rationalism for its embrace of irrationality. He argues that life requires reason, and reason should serve life. Key ideas from this period include:
    • Life precedes thought (“I think because I live”).
    • Life is biography, experience, and circumstance (self and world).
    • Key categories of life include: living as a radical way of being, being in the world, learning, constant striving, problem-solving, freedom, coexistence, and futurity.
    • Knowledge is an ongoing quest. Reason is essential for problem-solving, but a vital reason is needed to appreciate life’s fullness, and a historical reason to understand human reality’s meaning.
    • Humans are not just nature, but also history, intertwined with the world, others, and time.
    • Time is a crucial category, encompassing generations (children, youth, adults, and elderly), each with unique sensibilities. Within each generation, a qualified minority (elite) offers alternatives and guides society, while the mass, the average person, lacks qualification, leading to societal imbalance.