José Ortega y Gasset (May 9, 1883 - October 18, 1955) was a Spanish liberal philosopher working at the beginning of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship.

José Ortega y Gasset was born May 9, 1883 in Madrid. His father was director of the newspaper "El Imparcial", which belonged to the family of his mother, Dolores Gasset. The family was definitively of Spain's end-of-the-century liberal and educated bourgeoisie. The liberal tradition and journalistic engagement of his family had a profound influence in Ortega y Gasset's activism in politics.

Ortega was first schooled by the Jesuit priests of San Estanislao in Miraflores del Palo, Málaga (1891-1897). He attended the University of Deusto, Bilbao (1897-98) and the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the Complutense University of Madrid (1898-1904), receiving a doctorate in Philosophy. From 1905 to 1907, he continued his studies in Germany at Leipzig, Nuremberg, Cologne, Berlin and, above all Marburg. At Marburg, he was influenced by the neo-Kantianism of Hermann Cohen and Paul Natorp, among others.