Teoria ed etica dell’amore: un confronto tra José Ortega y Gasset e Julián Marías

The theme of love appears central in what Julián Marías calls “metaphysical anthropology”. Closely linked also to the analysis on relationality and sexual difference, it is explicitly referred to reflections on these same themes conducted by Ortega y Gasset. This is a critical comparison, in which Marías gathers some suggestions of his master but rejects others. With respect, in fact, to the Orteguian reading, which considers love an event in which lovers are passively involved in an all-embracing and, in any case, fleeting experience, Marías talks about an “amorous condition”, that is, a dimension of biographical life. It produces a radical change in the life project, which includes the loved one as an indispensable element and which demands fidelity over time.