José Luis Abellán (19 May 1933 – 17 December 2023) was a Spanish philosopher. He died on 17 December 2023, at the age of 90.
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Biography
Early life
Son of the Madrid lawyer José Abellán-García y Pérez de Camino. He lived until the age of fourteen in Ávila. In 1947, his family moved to Madrid, where his father opened a law firm. He had two siblings, María Jesús and Javier.
Academic training
He studied secondary education at the Instituto Nacional de Enseñanza Media of Ávila and at the Instituto Ramiro de Maeztu, where Father Manuel Mindán Manero guided him towards the study of Philosophy. After obtaining his licentiate degree (1957), he earned a PhD in Philosophy from the Complutense University of Madrid with the doctoral thesis Miguel de Unamuno a la luz de la psicología ("Miguel de Unamuno in the light of psychology"), directed by José Luis López Aranguren, in 1960. He was a research fellow at the Instituto Luis Vives de Filosofía of the CSIC between 1959 and 1961. He also earned a diploma in Psychology (1961).
Teaching career
He taught in Puerto Rico, in Northern Ireland, and later as a professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, where he served as Chair of the History of Spanish Philosophy until his retirement in 2003. He was a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO (1983–1986) in Spain and in Paris (1983–1985), representing Spain, and president of the "Confederación Española de Clubs UNESCO". He also presided over the Ateneo Científico, Literario y Artístico de Madrid (2001–2009) and was a professor and lecturer at numerous universities in Europe and the Americas.
His most important work is Historia crítica del pensamiento español (7 volumes, 1979–1991), in which he synthesized the evolution of ideas and philosophy in Spain from the Roman era, and he is also noted for his studies on Erasmianism. He has also written monographs on Miguel de Unamuno, José Ortega y Gasset, María Zambrano, George Santayana, Antonio Machado and José Gaos.
Family
He was married to María Eugenia de Diego Alonso. The couple had two children: Alejandro and Ignacio Abellán-García de Diego.
Publications
Fernando de Castro. Memoria Testamentaria. El problema del catolicismo liberal. (1975). Madrid: Castalia.
Miguel de Unamuno a la luz de la Psicología, Tecnos, Madrid, 1964.
Ortega y Gasset en la filosofía española, Tecnos, Madrid, 1966.
Filosofía española en América, 1936-1966, Seminario y Ediciones, Madrid, 1967.
La cultura en España (Ensayos para un diagnóstico), Edicusa, Madrid, 1971.
Mito y cultura, Seminario y Ediciones, Madrid, 1971.
La idea de América. Origen y evolución, Istmo, Madrid, 1972.
Sociología del 98, Península, Barcelona, 1974 (2ª edición, Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid, 1998).
La industria cultural en España, Edicusa, Madrid, 1975.
El erasmismo español, Gráficas El Espejo, Madrid, 1976 (2a edición, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1982).
El pensamiento español. De Séneca a Zubiri, UNED, Madrid, 1977 (en colaboración con Luis Martínez Gómez).
El exilio español de 1939, 6 vols., Taurus, Madrid, 1976-78 (Director de la obra y colaborador de ella en los tomos I, III y VI).
Panorama de la filosofía española actual. Una situación escandalosa, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1978.
Historias de posguerra (narraciones), Ámbito Literario, Barcelona, 1979.