Art as epoché and eidetic reduction. The foundation of Ortega y Gasset’s aesthetics on Husserl’s phenomenology

Abstract

This paper shows how Ortega y Gasset's aesthetics is a phenomenological aesthetics as it is based on Husserl's phenomenology. The Orteguian understanding of art as epoché and eidetic reduction serves as evidence for this. The dehumanization or derealization of art, a central concept of Ortega's aesthetics, consists of carrying out both epoché and eidetic reduction towards the pure conciousness or conciousness of. According to Ortega, art has always been epoché and spontaneous reduction. Avant-garde art represents the conscious practice of them.