Monthly Archives: August 2010
Nietzsche and Ortega Juxtaposed
Nietzsche and Ortega Juxtaposed
By Michael Kleen
Exclusive to STR
In “Nietzsche and the State” and “Ortega and the State,” I examined critiques of Statism by two prominent modern European philosophers. Because Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) witnessed the rise of the modern State in central Europe, and José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) experienced Statism’s maturity and destructive potential, these two philosophers offer an excellent juxtaposition with which to critique contemporary Statism. Although they did not agree on every point, their perspectives tear away the veil concealing the leviathan that is the State in both its character and its effects.
Both Friedrich Nietzsche and José Ortega y Gasset were alarmed by the development of the modern State, which matured to ascendancy in the late 18th Century. In the 1860s and ‘70s, Nietzsche witnessed Otto von Bismarck forge his native Germany from a collection of dozens of independent political entities into a German Empire with a strong central government, mass conscription, national welfare programs, universal manhood suffrage, and an urban mass media. Nietzsche died before the First World War, but José Ortega y Gasset lived to see the nation-states of Europe engulfed in that conflagration along with the chaos that followed. He saw the revolutions of Lenin, Mussolini, and Hitler, and that of his own country, Spain, which degenerated into civil war shortly after he published La rebelión de las masas.
What is Totalitarianism? A Dinner and Discussion
If the United States came under the control of a totalitarian regime, would we recognize it? This and other provocative questions are asked and answered in my reading of “What is Totalitarianism?” (Part 1 and Part 2) which will include a presentation on the reality of totalitarianism (defined as “total state control”) in the world today, and a discussion of the subject over dinner at the Stockholm Inn in Rockford, Illinois.
To pre-order tickets, get directions to this event, or view other details, visit our event page.
General admission is $5 pre-ordered or at the door. A special $10 ticket will give you access to the event plus a copy of my book One Voice ($8 retail). Dinner is not included with the cost of admission, but the Stockholm Inn has a wonderful selection of Swedish foods and we encourage guests to order dinner or just sample their famous Swedish Pancakes during the presentation.
If you would like to help promote this event, you can download the following flyers in .jpeg format:
Ortega and the State
This is the second in a series of three articles on Friedrich Nietzsche/José Ortega y Gasset and the State, or “Nietzsche contra Ortega.” This article focuses on José Ortega y Gasset, a Spanish philosopher who witnessed the consequences of Statism in graphic detail. His critique is of the State is somewhat unique. Enjoy!
Ortega and the State
By Michael Kleen
Exclusive to STR
José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) was the preeminent Spanish philosopher of the first half of the 20th Century. A complex figure, he was at the same time an elitist, a classical liberal, and a republican. He was born into a wealthy bourgeois family, became the Chair in Metaphysics at Complutense University in Madrid in 1910, and he was the deputy for the province of León until the Spanish Civil War. After the outbreak of the war, he lived in self-imposed exile in Argentina until 1945. Ortega, as a witness to both the First and Second World Wars, was an ardent critic of the modern State. In La rebelión de las masas “The Revolt of the Masses” (1930), he predicted that the forces of Statism would inevitably lead to ever-increasing levels of violence. The State, he wrote, was “the gravest danger now threatening European civilization.”
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