Summary
Jose Ortega y Gasset: Aesthetic writings
Although not well known here, Jose Ortega y Gasset was one of the most important European thinkers of the 20th century. He considered plastic and literary creativity to be one of the basic areas in which the sensibility of each historical period is manifested. In other words, understanding the art of a certain era will greatly help us to understand its other structural characteristics. This is one of the reasons why, during his long career, he wrote numerous works on aesthetic issues, although he never systematized his own aesthetic learning. Nevertheless, Ortega was first of all interested in art and literature because he believed that in them there is a special form of being, the unreal, that art is a realm of illusions, without the understanding of which the analysis of human existence cannot be complete. The artistic process is a process of unrealization, while a work of art is a living hermetic organism. Delving into his aesthetic analyzes will deepen the understanding of both Ortega y Gasset's philosophy and Spanish culture itself. These reflections can also serve as a good tool for interpreting plastic and literary arts in general, as well as what he called their living activity.
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