A prestigious philologist, sociologist and renowned essayist, Julián Marías Aguilera was born in Valladolid in 1914. A disciple and friend of Ortega y Gasset from 1932 and for 23 years, he founded together with the great thinker the Instituto de Humanidades de Madrid, of which he was later the director. In October of 1964 he was elected permanent member of the Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy), occupying chair "S". Amongst other relevant institutions, he is also member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando), of the Hispanic Society of America in New York, of the Institut International de Philosophie, of the International Society for the History of Ideas, of the Council Scholars of the Washington Congressional Library and, since 1971, corresponding member of the Academia de Artes y Ciencias de Puerto Rico (Academy of Arts and Sciences of Puerto Rico). Marías is, moreover, the only intellectual of the Castilian language to figure as a member of the International Papal Council for Culture, created by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

He possesses an extensive bibliography, made up of more than fifty books, from which we might single out titles such as "Introducción a la filosofía", "Historia de la filosofía", "Ortega y la razón vital", "Método histórico de las generaciones", "Los españoles", "El oficio del pensamiento" or "La España imposible en tiempos de Carlos III".

Amongst the awards he has received are the Fastenrath prize (1947) for his work "Miguel de Unamuno", the Kennedy prize from the Instituto de Estudios Norteamericanos in Barcelona (1964), the Juan Palomo prize (1971), the Gulbenkian for essays (1972), the Ramón Godó for journalism (1975), the Castille and Leon award for the Arts (1988) and the Bravo award (1988).

Mr. Marías died in Madrid on December 15, 2005.