The Weimar Background of Jose Ortega y Gasset's Political Philosophy: Espana invertebrada (1922)

This paper deals with the political philosophy of Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955). Through discourse analysis it deepens investigations of the origins of Ortega's political key concepts. Based on recent biographical research, the analysis illustrates and explains how the drastic sociopolitical changes experienced in Germany and Italy between 1918 and 1922 came to have major significance for Ortega's political thinking. In fact, the tremendous transformations undergone in both countries had a direct and decisive impact on Ortega's early, and fundamental, essay Espana invertebrada (1922). The results of the current study allow us to reevaluate Ortega's political philosophy critically and in context, not only with regard to its origin and range, but also its systematic relevance with respect to current political and social problems in Spain.