Intellectual relations between Nicolai Hartmann and Jose Ortega i Gasset. Part I: On the way to Marburg

Abstract

This article has a historical and philosophical character. It is a kind of prolegomena to the problem of the philosophical relationship between Nicolai Hartmann and Jose Ortega y Gasset. In this article I show the intellectual path of both philosophers to Marburg, ie to the place where their long—term friendship begins. In the case of Hartmann, this path leads through the Universities of Tartu and Saint Petersburg, where he meets the philosophy of Immanuel Kant for the first time, thanks to outstanding representatives of Russian Kantianism and Neo—Kantianism. In the case of Ortega, his stays at the Universities of Leipzig and Berlin and meetings with such representatives of neo—Kantianism as Alois Riehl and Georg Simmel had a key influence on his decision to study in Marburg. Nevertheless, for both Hartmann and Ortega, the most important philosophical city was Marburg and the philosophical school operating there, called the Marburg school. In this city, the two philosophers met and became friends. The result of this friendship is their correspondence from 1906 to 1921, which shows how much they influenced each other in their projects of philosophy beyond idealism and realism.