Abstract

In his essay José Ortega y Gasset: el como y el para qué, Octavio Paz, the Mexican poet, recalls his extraordinary encounter with the Spanish philosopher and outlines in a very original way the main stages of development of Ortega’s thought. This brief introduction to its Italian translation, beyond giving the reader the essential information about origin and content of the essay, locates the peculiarity of Ortega’s teaching in a genuine and effortless ascendancy, which harmonises with his conception of human life as a project to be individually realized. In this perspective, Octavio Paz himself, whose entire work testifies to an indomitable bent to intellectual autonomy, appears certainly indebted to Ortega’s lesson