"Hatred is a feeling which leads to the extinction of values"
About this Quote
Hatred, for Ortega y Gasset, isn’t just an ugly emotion; it’s a solvent. It doesn’t merely target an enemy, it corrodes the very ranking system that lets a society decide what’s admirable, what’s tolerable, what’s sacred. That’s why the line lands with such cold precision: hatred is framed as an anti-ethical force, not because it violates values, but because it makes valuing itself impossible.
The subtext carries Ortega’s broader anxiety about mass politics and the early 20th century’s moral unmooring. Living through Spain’s instability and Europe’s drift toward ideological absolutism, he watched public life become less about persuasion and more about purification. Hatred is politically convenient: it simplifies complexity into a single negative commandment (destroy, expel, silence). Once that takes over, nuance looks like betrayal, restraint looks like weakness, and institutions built to negotiate difference start reading as obstacles.
The genius of the phrasing is “extinction.” It suggests a slow die-off, not a sudden collapse. Values vanish the way species do: first the ecosystem gets hostile to them. Hatred rewards performative cruelty and punishes curiosity. It narrows the emotional palette until the only “good” left is whatever hurts the right people.
Ortega’s intent feels like a warning against moral monoculture. When hate becomes a civic language, even noble ideals get dragged into its grammar, repurposed as weapons, until the word “value” itself sounds like propaganda.
The subtext carries Ortega’s broader anxiety about mass politics and the early 20th century’s moral unmooring. Living through Spain’s instability and Europe’s drift toward ideological absolutism, he watched public life become less about persuasion and more about purification. Hatred is politically convenient: it simplifies complexity into a single negative commandment (destroy, expel, silence). Once that takes over, nuance looks like betrayal, restraint looks like weakness, and institutions built to negotiate difference start reading as obstacles.
The genius of the phrasing is “extinction.” It suggests a slow die-off, not a sudden collapse. Values vanish the way species do: first the ecosystem gets hostile to them. Hatred rewards performative cruelty and punishes curiosity. It narrows the emotional palette until the only “good” left is whatever hurts the right people.
Ortega’s intent feels like a warning against moral monoculture. When hate becomes a civic language, even noble ideals get dragged into its grammar, repurposed as weapons, until the word “value” itself sounds like propaganda.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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