José Ortega y Gasset is best known as the author of works on social psychology. But one day he took a bold step for a scientist – he tried to give a scientific definition of love.
“To love anything is to persistently insist on its existence; to reject such a structure of the world in which this object could not exist. Note, however, that this is essentially the same as continuously breathing life into it, as far as it is available to a person – in thoughts. Love is the eternal gift of life.”
José Ortega y Gasset “Etudes of Love” (Ivan Limbach Publishing House, 2004).
José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955), Spanish philosopher and sociologist, graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid, then spent seven years at German universities. On his return to Spain, he was assigned to Complutense University. Being a staunch Republican, Ortega was the leader of the intellectual opposition during the years of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-1930), was one of the founders of the “Republican Association of Intelligentsia” (1931), was elected civil governor of Madrid and for these reasons was forced to leave the country with the outbreak of civil war . Upon his return to Madrid in 1948, together with Julian Marias, he created the Humanitarian Institute, where he taught himself. Until the end of his life he remained an open opponent of Francoism.
His books:
“Rise of the Masses” (AST, 2008).
“Dehumanization of art” (AST, 2008).
“Aesthetics. Philosophy of Culture”, (Art, 1991).