A Philosopher in Search of Liberalism.

• Author: Lemieux, Pierre
• Position: From the Past - The Revolt of the Masses

The Revolt of the Masses (authorized translation of "La Rebelion de las Masas")

By Jose Ortega y Gasset

192 pp.; W.W. Norton & Company, 1932

Although influenced by many philosophical currents, Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) is considered a defender of individualism and liberalism. Today he is viewed as only a minor figure in the history of philosophy, but his 1930 book "La Rebelion de las Mases," translated into English in 1932 as The Revolt of the Masses, remains well known. It so impressed liberals of the time that Friedrich Hayek favorably quoted and cited it.

There are some questionable ideas in The Revolt of the Masses, but it contains many important observations. In our era of growing illiberalism, it is fitting to look back on the book some nine decades after it first appeared in English.

The mass-man and the state/Ortega views the revolt of the masses as the most important fact of his time. The "mass-man" (including the mass-woman, of course) is the "average man," "not specially qualified," "undifferentiated." Mass-men are those "for whom to live is to be every moment what they already are, without imposing on themselves any effort towards perfection." It should be noted this is not class theory. Ortega makes clear that we often see "nobly disciplined minds" in working classes, while in the upper classes of surviving nobility and among intellectuals we frequently find "the mass and the vulgar."

The mass-man does not have a moral code. He wants rights without obligations. He rejects "courtesy, truthfulness and, above all, respect or esteem for superior individuals." The "superabundance" brought by a growing standard of living has turned the mass-man into a sort of "heir-man," akin to the spoiled child and the hereditary aristocrat. The mass-man's inheritance, Ortega tells us, is civilization with its conveniences, its security, and all its advantages such as "marvellous instruments, healing medicines, watchful governments, comfortable privileges." But the ignorant mass-man doesn't realize that the maintenance of these benefits requires the respect of certain liberal institutions.

The masses don't just have empty opinions, they also dominate politics through the "hyperdemocracy" that has replaced the old democracy in which minorities could live "under the shelter of liberal principles and the rule of law." Without referring to "some higher authority," which includes "superior individuals," the mass is a mob--"it lynches." "The masses" is another name for the new middle class that appeared at the end of the 18th century and took over the state. In Ortega's...