Toward a Philosophy of History

"Jose Ortega y Gasset identifies two kinds of activity serving human advancement: on the one hand, a vital, creative profligacy that generates multiple possibilities; on the other, a utilitarian mechanization that trims this excess back to everyday use and habit. In this dialectic, Ortega locates the origin of the state as well as of evolution, which he describes as "a consequence of innumerable useless actions which a living being performs out of sheer exuberance."" Writing in the 1940s, he foresees the unification of the states of Europe, noting that "the unity of Europe as society is not an ideal but an ancient daily fact." He also discusses the advantages, the limitations, and the threat of technology, insisting that its illusory security imperils Western civilization.