102- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
passing comment on modern civilisation, asserting
that man should be judged in the context of his era
and circumstances. He slated his own period: Spain
was weak, divided and corrupt. Ortega blamed the
intellectually flawed, mediocre masses for the
deterioration of society. He pointed at the rise of
Fascism and Bolshevism, blaming the ignorance of
common people for their growth. It all flooded out in
his best work,La rebelión de las masas(1930).Unamumo wasn’t so direct. He used novels and
essays to push a less structured philosophy, one that
baulked at the idea of a systematic approach to life.
He dismissed attempts to place a rationale on our
existence, urging instead that we embrace faith.
Unamuno suggested that you can spend a lifetime
trying to figure out existence, but all of it boils down
to our hopes for immortality. He conceded that this
desire to live forever is irrational, but it’s there
nonetheless; it’s what makes us human, what equates
to our ‘faith’.A very bookish book
Julián Marías, a student
of the great Ortega,
wroteHistoria de la
Filosofía(1941),
considered one of the
best histories of Western
philosophical thought
ever published. The
money he made from the
sale of the book helped
sustain his family when
Franco imprisoned him
for criticising the regime.
“I AM MYSELF
AND MY
CIRCUMSTANCE.”
José Ortega y Gasset