The Dehumanization of Art

A classic of philosophical thought—the collection includes Jose Ortega y Gasset’s key texts, one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century.

The relevance of the ideas: the theses about the dehumanization of art and the crisis of culture, formulated almost a hundred years ago, acquire new importance in the era of digital media and mass culture.

The collection covers a wide range of topics: from analyzing Cervantes’ novel to criticizing the political system—showing the interconnection of aesthetic, historical, and social processes.

The collection includes the most important works for Jose Ortega y Gasset’s creative legacy—“The Dehumanization of Art,” “Meditations on Don Quixote,” and “Beardless Spain.” In the first, the great philosopher examines the theme of art’s eternal opposition for the chosen few versus the broad public; in the second, he reflects on Cervantes’ revolutionary novel for its time, which completely changed the direction of European culture; and in the concluding work of the collection, “Beardless Spain,” he discusses the ethics of power, public morality, and the inevitable decline of a state in which power goes not to the best of the best, but to representatives of an anonymous majority.