A filosofia da cultura de José Ortega y Gasset

This paper addresses the theory of culture of the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset on the basis of two fundamental notions: that of virtual and that of security, which only became possible after Ortega’s phenomenological “turn”, in the years before the First World War. This phenomenological theory of culture is characterized by three fundamental assumptions. In the first place, Ortega will defend that culture is made up of a set of ideas that are useful for life, it is an intersubjective creation that intends truth and objectivity, at the risk of becoming an imposture if that intention is not fulfilled. Secondly, that, through culture, we express what in each thing goes beyond it and refers to everything else, i.e. what represents the dimension of depth that is always latent in what, in each of them, is evident. Thirdly, that culture means clarity of vision, which for Ortega means the same as concept: thus, culture, being neither life nor its depths, is the commentary on life, not in the sense of something accessory to it, but as life itself led to its completeness.