Environment or Galaxy: The Quotations from Ortega y Gasset that McLuhan used in War and Peace

Abstract

McLuhan cites Ortega y Gasset’s works, including History as a System and Other Essays Toward a Philosophy of History and Man and People, in two passages from War and Peace in the Global Village, six years after publishing The Gutenberg Galaxy and four years after Understanding Media. These rea-dings coincide with the abandonment of the expression “galaxy,” which he replaced with “environment.” Based on these findings, we have examined McLuhan’s citations of Ortega and their relation to the replacement of “ga-laxy” for “environment” for the first time. Using a method of direct colla-tion of the Ortega’s works that McLuhan read in English with the original texts written by Ortega, this study aims to show a relationship between the use of the term “environment” by McLuhan and Ortega’s concept of “cir-cumstance,” which has gone unnoticed by specialists. McLuhan tacitly en-dorsed some of the main ideas of Orteguian philosophy.

McLuhan cita History as a System, and other essays toward a philosophy of history y Man and People de Ortega y Gasset en dos pasajes de War and Peace in the Global Village, seis años después de publicar The Gutenberg galaxy y cuatro tras Understarding media. Estas lecturas coinciden con el abandono de la expresión galaxy sustituida por environment. A partir de estas constataciones, examinamos por vez primera las citas de McLuhan a Ortega y su relación con la sustitución mencionada utilizando como método el cotejo de las obras leídas en inglés por McLuhan con los textos originales de Ortega y mostramos que hay una relación interna entre el uso de environment y el concepto orteguiano de circunstancia, no advertida por los estudiosos, lo que indica que McLuhan hizo tácitamente suyas ideas centrales de la filosofía orteguiana.