Historical Reason

by José Ortega y Gasset, Philip W. Silver (Translator)

As the editor, Paulino Garagorri, points out, the text here translated was essentially a transcription of two cycles of lectures that Ortega gave. Clearly they were delivered, as was his custom, from notes based on the intricate filing system that he used. Thus the resulting text was the record of an oral, extempore presentation from scant notes, with one or two passages read from printed or written works.

Genres: Philosophy

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1984

About the author

José Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.

Reviews

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally written in 2010 and imported from Amazon with minor changes.

This slim volume contains the transcripts for two series of José Ortega y Gasset's lectures, both nominally titled 'Historical Reason', but approaching the subject from different vantage points. The first, given in 1940 in Buenos Aires, is a series of five lectures, originally scheduled for four, which briefly outlines Mr. Ortega's development of 'historical reason' as a new facet in the study of philosophy. The second lecture series, given in 1944 in Lisbon, also consists of five lectures, although it had been originally scheduled for many more, and thus is an interesting addendum, but lacks the full direction and conclusions of the first.

Briefly, José Ortega y Gasset believed that the 'crisis of our times' (1940's) dictated that he take a new, fundamental approach to philosophy. Though not baldly stated, I believe that the crisis he referred to was not so much the physical manifestations of National Socialism and warfare in Europe (although I thought I detected many veiled references to it in his Lisbon series), but more in a general sense--a crisis of modern (mid 20th century) thought. This he ascribes to the breakdown of man's confidence in Reason, illustrated by a concurrent breakdown of rationality in the natural sciences (discovery of quanta in physics, propositional logic in mathematics, etc).

Leading his audience through a short explanation of philosophical history, he begins with the pre-Socratics Parmenides and Heraclitus, and the Greek conception of reality that held sway until Descartes. Descartes skepticism led, of course, to Cogito ergo Sum, but Ortega y Gasset critiques this idea, deciding that Descartes' doubt just didn't doubt enough. There are essentially two problems as he sees it. The first is that when Descartes proclaims thought as fundamental reality, he ''leave(s) out of account man in his primary, unadorned, coexistence with things''. Instead of 'I think, therefore I am', Ortega says 'I live, therefore I think'. Second, and this follows then, that Reason is no longer the gauge with which to measure reality, and instead we substitute everyday, ordinary life. Ortega's term, Vital Reason, then uses life as the fundamental axiom for reason, as opposed to the other way round.

When reason was thought of as the basis for reality, it wasn't farfetched to think of reality as logical, as conforming to rational thought. Except Ortega and his contemporaries were running into brick walls left and right as 'reason' - the further science pushed at its boundaries - could not withstand the scrutiny. Reason is a wonderful thing, as far as it goes, it just doesn't go far enough. Because reason was the basis for naturalism - investigating the nature of things - and because it had failed to reveal the 'nature' of Man, Ortega posited that man had no 'nature'. What he has is a history. Man is what he is today because of what he was yesterday, and to understand man, you must study his history, which is the basis of Historical Reason.

I was drawn to José Ortega y Gasset's writing after reading some positive references to him in Andrew Zagajewski's A Defense of Ardor: Essays--I settled on this particular volume as it was his only selection available at my local library. After some cursory research, it seems as though Historical Reason incorporates most of his main ideas, and in a manner that was, surprisingly, easy for me to comprehend. I also found his historical summary extremely lucid, and personally valuable as adding to my knowledge of general philosophical ideas.

As someone who has not studied philosophy, my understanding of certain works within the context of the field is severely limited. Ortega y Gasset doesn't seem to garner much attention anymore, as far as I can tell, and whether that is an oversight or not I don't know. I did enjoy reading this lectures though, for the mental exercise and for the introduction to his ideas.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based Ortega.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jose Ortega y Gasset has a biting habit of sneaking up on you. This is of course due to his own philosophical method, but as a casual reader, it's easy while reading to meet confusion with the various subjects he brings up sequentially. By the end though, it should all make a lot of sense in hindsight. Historical Reason is the compilation of two series of lectures Gasset gave in 1940 and 1944. Described most simply, he uses his historical method and philosophical insights to examine the past of man's situation and his resulting philosophy, and then give some commentary and corrections as he sees fit. The grand scheme of this book is to follow the footsteps of Rene Descartes and face the "darkness" we modern men find ourselves in. Gasset's vitalism ties to his historicity, and thus he prophecies that the death of *Reason* in Descartes' - and all of the west's since the Greeks - sense, must be radically replaced with historical reason, and it is only with this framework that we can tackle the overpowering problems of Becoming that vex us and leaves us - for the moment - aimless.

[Joaquin Siabra-Fraile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contiene dos cursos impartidos por Ortega en Buenos Aires (1940) y Lisboa (1944). En el primero hay una interesante crítica a Descartes, que completa la crítica al idealismo de "El tema de nuestro tiempo" (1923). En el segundo hay una estupenda caracterización del figura del filósofo basada en el profeta Amós.