Abstract
Presents the thought of Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) on the principles of historical research and the philosophy of history. Ortega y Gasset is sometimes seen as representative of the "generation of 1898," or as a modernist. He argued that the study of humanity's past requires the study of culture and that in turn, culture represents the beliefs of a generation of individuals who are gradually exposed to doubt and, hence, crisis. From crisis emerges a new set of beliefs that come to represent the culture of that generation. In Ortega y Gasset's view, the length of a generation is about thirty years and the major accomplishment of a generation appears 15 years after it begins. Galileo inaugurated a generation in 1596, Thomas Hobbes's work appeared 15 years later, in 1611, and the writings of René Descartes first appeared in 1626, 15 years after that. Ironically, Ortega y Gasset's scheme did not correspond to the notion that he represented the generation of 1898. He did not believe, as did Oswald Spengler, that cultures die. Instead, he argued, cultures develop based on the succession of generations.