The philosophy of the game and the origin of political institutions in the thought of José Ortega y Gasset

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34024/prometeica.2025.32.19261

Keywords:

politics, play, José Ortega y Gasset

Abstract

Our paper deals with the essays by José Ortega y Gasset entitled El origen deportivo del Estado (1924), La caza y los toros (1929) and Idea del teatro (1946), among other texts that are sources of reference for working on the concepts of the philosophy of play and the formation of political institutions. Sport and leisure activities are the reflection of technology applied to the constitution of civilisation and to ‘happy occupations’, where human beings find fun, joy and spontaneous enjoyment in the face of unavoidable work tasks. According to Ortega, dialectics is the ‘vital reason’ manifested in the creation of techniques to be expressed through social and institutional systems. Likewise, the human being is represented as a lacking being thrown into the world to confront the ‘dramas’ arising within his circumstance. From this crisis, Ortega elaborates a ‘first philosophy’ based on play and sport to explain the integration of culture, politics and the position of the human being mythologised in the figure of an ‘ontological centaur’, situated between the natural and the artificial, obliged to make decisions and destined to satisfy his basic and superfluous needs.

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Author Biographies

  • Hernán Murano, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

    Prof en filosofía, especialista en docencia universitaria, especialista en Epistemologías del sur y Diplomado en filosofía de la Liberación. Docente en la materia Pensamiento argentino y latinoamericano (UNMDP) y docente en escuela secundaria Nº65.

  • Nicolás Martínez Sáez, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

    Doctor en Filosofía (UNLP) y Prof. en Filosofía (UNMdP). Investiga temas vinculados a la Edad Media y el juego. Prof. Adjunto en Filosofía Medieval (UNMdP).

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Prometeica v.32

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Published

2025-06-01

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Vol. 32 (2025): Prometeica - v 32 (03/2025 - 12/2025)

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Copyright (c) 2025 Hernán Murano, Nicolás Martínez Sáez

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How to Cite

Murano, H., & Martínez Sáez, N. (2025). The philosophy of the game and the origin of political institutions in the thought of José Ortega y Gasset. Prometeica - Journal of Philosophy and Science, 32, e19261 (1-9). https://doi.org/10.34024/prometeica.2025.32.19261
Received 2024-08-01
Accepted 2025-03-25
Published 2025-06-01