The Idea of Europeanisation of Spain at the Beginning of the 20th Century

This paper analyzes some fundamental attitude differences between Jose Ortega y Gasset and Spanish literature Generation of '98, regarding the problem of Spain after the defeat in the war with the United States in 1898. In the early years of the 20th century, with the aim to reflect on the causes and shortcomings in society and to come up with rational and positive solutions, the Spanish philosopher and writer seeks to examine issues that have concerned writers of Generation '98. This research is focused on presenting Ortega y Gasset's idea of Europeanisation of Spain, which implementation would lead to improvement of Spain's position on historical as well as social, cultural, and educational level. Regarding this, we also examined some attitudes of Joaquin Costa, who was committed to creating a stable "middle class" in Spain, as well as the attitudes of Angel Ganivet, who focused on the issue of the Spanish identity and, as expected, we examined the reflections of the Generation '98, primarily those of Miguel de Unamuno, as one of the Generation's representatives.