Man and People (Norton Library)

José Ortega y Gasset (1883 - 1955) was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. His philosophy has been characterized as a "philosophy of life" which "comprised a long-hidden beginning in a pragmatist metaphysics inspired by William James, and with a general method from a realist phenomenology imitating Edmund Husserl, which served both his proto-existentialism (prior to Martin Heidegger's) and his realist historicism which has been compared to both Wilhelm Dilthey and Benedetto Croce." Born in Madrid, Ortega was one of the intellectual leaders of the Spanish Republican government. After the establishment of the Republic, Ortega became a member of Parliament. He also held for many years the chair of metaphysics at the University o Madrid and was editor of the influential journal of opinion, Revista de Occidente. After the Spanish Civil War, Ortega became an exile from Spain, living for a time in Buenos Aires, later settling in Lisbon. In later years he visited Spain to lecture in Madrid. Books by Ortega include his most widely read work The Revolt of the Masses, Man and Crisis (originally published in Spanish under the title of En Torno A Galileo), Man and People, Meditations on Quixote, History as a System, and What is Philosophy?