Education of Citizens in Ortega and Gasset

Abstract

One of the most relevant issues in Ortega’s and Gasset’s political thought is the extension of the classical concept of politics in the sense of education of citizens. However, the idea of education,that we propose, has different meanings that are related to different understandings of «public opinion».We have summarized them in three concepts of education: First, a sense of intellectual and institutional character, in which it includes democracy and political formations having an educational function as well as of creation of public opinion. Second, maybe the most interesting one, it thinks education as equilibrium between creating new uses and at the same time maintaining a universal collective sense that is found in culture. It allows not to get into individualism of the mass-man. Third, in which there isscarce research, it emphasizes the importance of education of citizens for the participation in society,in other words, it emphasizes education for creativity.