Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

3-1983

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Spanish

Major Professor

Carl W. Cobb

Committee Members

H. Earnest Leward

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify and assess the philosophical and aesthetic values of the cultural elites that both Jose Enrique Rodo and Jose Ortega y Gasset deemed necessary components of a true society. The complete works of both authors served as the basis of the investigation, with particular attention being given to their philosophical essays. Critical material also accompanies this study. Quotations from the authors essays as well as from the critics are presented, analyzed and commented upon.

Rodo's cultural elite is one of a platonic nature. in which cultural values are universal absolutes which serve as philosophical entities to be admired and imitated. In turn, the elite, as an embodiment of such values, is destined to be the model for imitation by the masses. Since they are universal, the values of Rodo's elite are supposed to be valid for any society, at any time, anywhere.

Ortega's elite, of a different kind, does not seek universals but prefers to create its values in the here and now, within the limitations of circumstances, and accepts the contingency and subjectivity of its valuations. In fact, Ortega's elite embraces a relativistic attitude toward life that he termed perspectivismo, according to which each individual and society should create its own values, these being valid only under specific circumstances in time and space. Since the true elitist is the one who struggles to create individual values and upholds them consciously, it follows that he or she is destined to be a stimulus for others to create his or her own, rather than a model to be imitated.

Finally, separate chapters are devoted to the aesthetics of the two elites, whose aesthetic values also follow the universal and relativistic orientations. While Rodo turned to 5th century B. C. Greece in search of ideal and permanent aesthetic standards, Ortega refused to adopt any standards at all. Consistent with his perspectivismo, Ortega left the field open to the creation of subjective aesthetic values at times even "dehumanized," outside the traditional patterns of symmetry, proportion, rhythm and serenity.

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