Ortega y Gasset, Liberalism, and the Humiliation of the Masses

• In Event: Revisiting The Revolt of the Masses in an Age of Global Populism

Abstract

José Ortega y Gasset’s The Revolt of the Masses, which cast the increasing power of illiberal multitudes as “the greatest crisis that can afflict peoples, nations, and civilizations,” synthesized many early-twentieth century liberal anxieties and won international fame as a result. But the nature of Ortega’s answer to the ‘revolt of the masses’ remains controversial. Some, like Harold Lasswell, observe that Ortega’s text leaves “matters of strategy and tactics untouched” and leads “nowhere in forming plans of action.” Others point to a renewed elitism or to European unification as Ortega’s answers to the problem of mass revolt. In this paper, I contend that Ortega did indeed suggest a resolution to the revolt of the masses, but one that is fully captured neither by the bald reassertion of elite power nor by the pursuit of European unity. Instead, he believed the precondition for restoring liberal democracy – and, by extension, for salvaging Western civilization – involved allowing the intransigently illiberal ‘masses’ to take power and suffer the direct consequences of their own ineptitude. In Ortega’s view, only this humiliating experience of failure would ready the masses for a return to liberalism and a safer form of democracy. Placing The Revolt of the Masses within the context of Ortega’s larger political trajectory, I recover the contours of his vision for liberal renewal through mass humiliation. More broadly, I argue that this aspect of Ortega’s thought stands as a provocative, albeit troubling, answer to the question of liberalism’s resources for dealing with illiberal peoples.

Author

• Alec Francis Dinnin, University of Florida