Ortega y Gasset and Eugenio D’Ors readers of Machiavelli

  • Walter Ghia Università degli Studi del Molise
Keywords: Machiavelli, modernity, D’Ors, Ortega y Gasset, renaissance

Abstract

At the beginning of the 20th century (1904) Machiavelli is an author celebrated by Ortega y Gasset: the philosopher of Madrid despises the nineteenth century, epilogue of an era, as much as he admires the Renaissance. Twenty years later - in España invertebrada - Ortega reads the pages of Il Principe as the brilliant commentary “from an Italian to the deeds of two Spaniards”, Fernando el Católico and César Borja. D ‘Ors’s position is very different. Although in 1920, in favor of Machiavelli, he opposed “vulgar beliefs” (which are unfit to distinguish between Intelligence and Cunning), certainly ends up among the most radical critics. According to d ‘Ors, Machiavelli reaffirms in modernity the paganism of the Emperor Julian and anticipates - against Dante and his theory of the empire - the fate of a fragmented Europe, in which ideas and nations fight, without any reference to a universal authority.

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Published
2019-07-08
How to Cite
Ghia W. (2019). Ortega y Gasset and Eugenio D’Ors readers of Machiavelli. Ingenium. Revista Electrónica de Pensamiento Moderno y Metodología en Historia de las Ideas, 13, 89-99. https://doi.org/10.5209/INGE.64101
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Articles