The revolution of individuals: political philosophy in Gracián, Ortega and Mosterín

Abstract

The main goal of this article is to review some philosophical elements of three key authors in contemporary political thought: Baltasar Gracián, José Ortega y Gasset, and Jesús Mosterín. The work of all of them is known beyond our borders. With this, I do not attempt a detailed analysis of their theories, but rather the exposition of several of their main ideas as a proposal for practical application in current politics. This search for utility is at the core of the work of the thinkers analyzed, interested in creating theses that would be useful to society rather than in abstract thought. Particular attention is paid to the ideas they offered about the individual. The individual is a key figure in political action for all of them, since they dedicated a large part of their efforts to appealing to the reader as an agent of social change through example, rather than through action against an adversary. The perspective that each one contributed is complementary to the rest, which makes a joint observation of their proposals particularly interesting. Gracián will refer strongly to morality, Ortega to the responsibility of the subject who stands out from the masses, Mosterín will invite us not to lose sight of empathetic respect for other individuals, including non-human animals. With all this, I hope that the article will serve to take into account that there are other ways, of doing politics, other than the traditional ones, especially for those agents who seek to transform the current status quo, based on the socio-economic difference between people.