Abstract

CANELA MORALES, Luis A.. Some Considerations on the Executive Character of Consciousness: Ortega y Gasset, and the Fortunate Encounter with Phenomenology. Valenciana [online]. 2024, vol.17, n.33, pp.59-86.  Epub May 31, 2024. ISSN 2007-2538.  https://doi.org/10.15174/rv.v16i33.736.

Ortega y Gasset had stated that, “phenomenology was not a philosophy for us: it was… a good luck”. This is because through its Ortega was able to find a way out of neo-Kantianism. Consequently, Ortega will understand that phenomenology seeks to save rationality, without ignoring the experience. However, from the beginning Ortega realizes that the individual is not something isolated, but that it is formed in the relation with the world, the circumstance (he will say around 1914, “I am I and my circumstance; and, if I do not save it, I do not save myself”) and that phenomenology must recover the executive character of life. This essay will trace Ortega’s journey from his encounter with phenomenology to his intuitions about life as a radical reality.

Keywords : Ortega y Gasset; Phenomenology; Circumstances; Life; Live experience.