El asco del espíritu por la materia. Sobre la concepción gnóstica de la muerte en Ángel Ganivet,

Ángel Ganivet’s philosophical outlook, a key figure of the Generation of ’98, stems primarily from his tragic view of existence and from his profound engagement with thinkers such as Seneca and Schopenhauer. His writings reveal the turmoil of the modern individual, torn apart in the face of a disenchanted and empty world. Ganivet felt an overwhelming urge to escape life, and his entire body of work can be seen as an attempt to find an ideal capable of freeing him both from the temptation of suicide and from the suffering caused by failing to attain it. This essay examines the notion of death in the Spanish thinker’s work from a Gnostic perspective, focusing on the dichotomy between spirit and matter. Through an analysis of his most representative texts, it becomes clear that Ganivet conceives earthly existence as a kind of bodily prison from which the soul longs to break free. Death, far from being a tragic end, is presented instead as a form of liberation—a return of the spirit to its pure and immaterial origin. This view, deeply influenced by Gnostic thought, reflects the spirit’s revulsion towards matter, an existential repugnance that shapes not only his understanding of death but also his philosophy of life.