José Ortega y Gasset on Philosophy and Historical Thinking

ABSTRACT The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset not only emphasized the importance of the Greek tradition as it applies to modern philosophy; he also insisted on demonstrating how it inspired his own philosophical project. He believed the pre-Socratic philosophers, Parmenides and Heraclitus, were the first to develop a rational basis for the thinking process and attempted to show a dynamic continuum of this tradition up to the present. His concern was to protect this heritage from the challenges of scientific positivism and postmodernism. This article will examine five key works by Ortega that deal with the Spanish philosopher’s early concept of la razón vital (vital reason), the development of la razón histórica (historical reason), historical methodology, dialectical thinking, and his understanding of the emergence of philosophy in ancient Greece.