Customer Reviews

Man and Crisis

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This is the best introduction to Ortega's thought. Ortega was not a pure academic philosopher. He wrote newspaper articles, essays, and lectures. He was also active in politics in Spain. He is one of the most underated philosopher of the last century. This book combines his insight into historical crises of mankind with his philosophy of life (vital reason). It deals with the issue of man and society (culture)---how can man be himself in the midst of the social and the cultural influences, how can we be prevented from disappearing beneath our social roles, how can we be an individual without falling into becoming the mass man. In this book, he asks how historical crisis in mankind occurs with historical investigation of the transition from the Middle Age to the Renaissance. Ortega's main thesis is that a crisis occurs when the beliefs (convictions) of the previous generation is no longer valid because of a change in the world around us. We must find our new beliefs (convictions), but they are not in sight. This is the basic structure of crises in human history. Many countries of the world today can learn from Ortega's thought in this book. it is easy to read because it combines Ortega's skills and talents as a journalist, philosopher, and politician. Enjoy and learn from Ortega's wisdom.

The book is not Ortega y Gasset's best, but is quite informative if you read it before reading philosophy of history or reading about dialectics.

Ortega y Gasset disagrees with the Hegelian dialectic, but takes the dialectic idea and interprets Western European history from the point of view of dialectic of crises and resolution. Ortega y Gasset's dialectic is open-ended. Unlike Hegel he does not rush you from a concept to its opposite and than take you to a different plane altogether.

Central to Ortega y Gasset's philosophy of history is how each generation respons to a crisis that it inherits and resolves it to take society on a higher level. But no great insights are missed by not reading the book. They are covered by other thinkers in a better way.