Abellán, José Luis

b. 1933, Madrid

   Academic and literary critic

   One of the most prolific writers on the history of philosophy, Abellán is the author of the multivolume Historia crítica del pensamiento español (Critical History of Spanish Thought) (1979–89), and of studies of Ortega y Gasset. He secured an appointment in the Faculty of Philosophy of the Complutense University of Madrid in 1966, subsequently becoming professor of the History of Spanish Thought. He co-authored, with Antonio Monclús, El pensamiento español contemporáneo y la vida de América (Contemporary Spanish Thought and the Life of America) (1989), for the third volume of which he was awarded the National Essay Prize.

   EAMONN RODGERS