IB Philosophy 10.7.1 the Rise of the ‘mass Man’ Notes

Ortega y Gasset and The Revolt of the Masses

1. Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) was a Spanish philosopher whose work spans social philosophy, epistemology, and cultural criticism. His most influential text, The Revolt of the Masses (La rebelion de las masas, 1930), diagnoses what he saw as the central crisis of modern European civilization: the political and cultural dominance of the mass man.
2. The concept of the mass man must be distinguished from Marxist notions of class struggle. For Ortega, the mass man can belong to any social class, including the wealthy and the educated.
   1. What defines the mass man is not his material circumstances but his attitude toward life: he demands nothing of himself beyond what he already is.
3. Ortega contrasts the mass man with the select man (also called the noble man or excellent individual). The select man is defined not by birth or privilege but by the habit of demanding more of oneself than others demand.
   1. He lives under a regime of self-imposed discipline and strives toward standards that exceed mere comfort.
4. This distinction between the mass man and the select man is explicitly qualitative rather than quantitative. Ortega insists that "mass" does not refer to the working class or the numerically largest group.
   1. Rather, the mass man is anyone who feels no obligation to justify his existence through effort, excellence, or service.

Historical Context and Philosophical Method

1. Ortega's philosophical method combines elements of phenomenology (the study of lived experience and consciousness) and historicism (the view that ideas and societies can only be understood in their historical context). He examines the mass man not as an abstract concept but as a lived social phenomenon, observable in the streets, cafes, and political movements of early twentieth-century Europe.
   1. His approach is descriptive before it is prescriptive, grounding diagnosis in observed social phenomena rather than abstract theory.
2. The text carries a tone of cultural alarm rather than political prescription. Ortega does not advocate for a specific form of government; instead, he warns that civilization itself is at risk when those who benefit most from its achievements understand them least.
   1. This gives the text its enduring relevance beyond its original historical context.
3. Connections to other prescribed texts in Unit 10 are instructive. Nietzsche's distinction between master and slave morality (10.5.2) anticipates Ortega's concern with the levelling effects of modern culture.
   1. Mill's defence of individuality in On Liberty (10.12.2) shares Ortega's anxiety about the tyranny of conformist opinion over independent thought.
4. The text was written in the context of interwar Europe, a period of rising totalitarianism, rapid industrialization, and democratic expansion. Ortega observes that modern civilization has produced unprecedented material comfort and political freedom, yet paradoxically this very success has generated a new type of person who takes these achievements for granted.
5. Ortega's central philosophical claim is that European society has undergone a profound transformation: the masses have risen to a position of social and political dominance without possessing the intellectual or moral qualities that such dominance requires. This is not a claim about economics or class; it is a claim about character and disposition.

Characteristics of the Mass Man

Self-Satisfaction and Hermeticism

1. The defining characteristic of the mass man is self-satisfaction. Ortega writes that the mass man is "perfectly happy" with himself as he is.
   1. He feels no need to improve, to question his assumptions, or to subject his opinions to critical scrutiny. This psychological comfort is, for Ortega, a moral failing.