Jose Ortega y Gasset. "What is philosophy?": analysis and meaning of the work

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:53

One of the most prominent representatives of the Spanish thought of the twentieth century is José Ortega y Gasset. "What is philosophy?" is a work in which he aims at an analysis of the very way in which a person can think of himself in the world. In his lectures, he made it clear that scientists should not be contemptuous of ordinary people. The latter can also engage in philosophizing. But can all thinking be called such? If not, what are the rules of philosophy? These questions, as well as many others, were answered by José Ortega y Gasset. "What is philosophy?" - a program work of a thinker.

Short biography

The philosopher was of noble birth. He was born into a family that made him a true intellectual. Many people came to the housecelebrities, and from childhood, the future Spanish philosopher met with famous people and listened to their speeches. He traditionally graduated from the Jesuit college, which provided the most extensive education in this country, and then entered the University of Madrid. As a doctor of sciences, he continued his studies in the region of Heine and Hegel. But the civil war in Spain left a serious imprint on his biography. The young philosopher became a fierce opponent of the Franco regime. He was forced to emigrate. Returning to his homeland only after World War II, he continued to be in opposition to the ruling party. That's just how he was, José Ortega y Gasset.

"What is philosophy?". Analysis of the original meaning

This work is a series of lectures given by the author in 1928. But it was not published as a book until 1964. Lectures are not like the introductory remarks that lecturers usually make before introducing a course. It is also not a brief analysis of how the predecessors treated the main questions that have occupied philosophers for thousands of years. Moreover, he is a bit of a provocateur, this Ortega y Gasset. "What is philosophy?" - a name that masks the meaning of the work more than reveals it. In fact, the thinker is not entirely interested in what this discipline is. He focuses on a completely different problem. What philosophy should be for a modern person and whether there is any practical benefit in it for ordinary people - these are the main questions that torment him.

Existentialism and its influence

This approach is not unusual for the first half of the twentieth century. At that time, existentialism was extremely popular - a movement that is difficult to characterize unambiguously. But its main feature, which unites all directions, can probably be called the question of what being is and how it correlates with human life. For the Spanish thinker, this is practically the same thing. Let's see how Ortega y Gasset answers his own question. What is philosophy? This is a way of life. That is, it is a kind of human existence. Therefore, philosophical truth is not some kind of abstract thought. It should come directly from life experience, including everyday life.

Comprehension of the world

What else did Ortega y Gasset want to say in his lectures? "What is philosophy?" - a book that establishes the rules of thinking that a person must adhere to. First of all, it is sincerity, openness and independence. History and society have imposed many different meanings on many problems, trends and issues. The point is not whether they are true or not, but that under their layers the original object is almost completely invisible. Therefore, a real thinker must break through all these layers in order to get to the bottom of the original object, to the world itself in its primitiveness, as the philosopher expresses. And only by studying it on your own, you can consider whether the traditional meanings are true or not.

Subjectivetrue

Ortega y Gasset also raises this issue. "What is philosophy?" - a work that contains an interesting thesis that the question of authenticity or error does not really matter if we do not take into account the position of the thinker himself. How true is he, how is he being manipulated? After all, it also depends on what conclusion he will come to. And the authenticity of his work cannot be verified without first determining whether the thinker had a desire to achieve the truth or simply play along with the general trends, what was then considered true. Perhaps, if you look at the history of philosophy from this point of view, it will turn out to be completely different from what we are used to.

This difference between philosophical understanding and the precision of the sciences is the focus of a special section in the course delivered by Ortega y Gasset (“What is philosophy?” Lecture 3). That is why a very important point in determining the truth or falsity of a doctrine is the biography of its author. After all, the life path of any philosopher reflects his spiritual wanderings, doubts, the path to or from the truth. At the same time, this allows the works of any real thinker to seem to rise above time and engage in a dialogue with modern people. That is why we are able to read and understand the works of the past.

Modern and classical philosophy

Like most representatives of existentialism, Ortega y Gasset was very critical of the traditional Western European schools of thought. Of course, he did not deny the connection between modern andclassical philosophy. But at the same time, his analysis of such celebrities as Leibniz and Descartes is very critical. He considers these philosophers the "fathers of idealism", because of which, instead of the real world, the humanities began to deal with abstract ideas. Real things were replaced by fantasies about them, on which other ideas were superimposed. According to the original expression of the philosopher, since the era of Descartes, the Western European world "was left without light." So thought Ortega y Gasset. "What is philosophy?" (we reviewed the summary of this work above) proposes to return the real world to modern man. This is precisely the task of philosophy, and its success depends on how well it copes with it.