Why Is Ortega Angry with the Scientists?

Abstract

He is angry with the scientists not with science. Better to say he is not angry with them; he rather despises and looks down on them. He despises them as he does the masses in general and is in awe of them as of the masses in general. But perhaps his feelings are not the main issue. More important seems to be the realization of the sociological fact that “the present day scientist is the prototype of the mass-man”. This is stated in his magisterial essay book which both by its title and content reports about The Revolt of the Masses as the terrifying but inescapable development of his age. In this context, the above-quoted sentence is definitely not flattering and its continuation is even less so: “And this has not happened just by chance, nor as a consequence of the scientist’s personal weakness, but he is made a mass-man automatically by science itself, which is the root of our civilization, so he becomes barbarous and primitive.”