For Ortega, the fundamental reality is not "thought" (as Descartes argued) but living . Life is something we are "fired into"; it is a series of choices made under pressure.
Ortega believed that modern man has developed "instrumental reason" (how to build things) but lost "historical reason" (why things are the way they are). JosГ© Ortega y Gasset and the Dilemma of Modern Man
Ortega’s "mass-man" isn’t defined by social class, but by a psychological state. This individual feels "just like everybody else" and is perfectly content with it. For Ortega, the fundamental reality is not "thought"