Interpretaciones etimológicas y ontológicas de la realidad: Ortega y Gasset frente a Heidegger

In this paper I explain the difference between José Ortega y Gasset’s and Martin Heidegger’s interpretations of the word reality. Both consider human life as a fundamental phenomenon, but Ortega calls it “radical reality”, while Heidegger rejects this denomination. This difference is due to their interpretation, based on different etymological and philosophical backgrounds, of the term reality: Ortega grounds his interpretation on the Greek term pragma (“thing”), while Heidegger relies on ousia (“substance”). This difference reveals what each author understands by reality and its function in their respective philosophies. I argue that Ortega’s interpretation is superior to Heidegger’s because he succeeds in re-signifying the traditional sense of reality through an interpretation phenomenologically prior to substance.