José Luis López Aranguren (Ávila, June 1909) is a graduate in Law and a Doctor of Philosophy and Arts from the University of Madrid. Retired Professor of Ethics and Sociology, he is one of the most highly-regarded philosophers in Spanish society, due to his critical and rigorous character and his great capacity for both communication and work. Forced away from Spanish universities for ten years for political reasons (together with Tierno Galván and García Calvo), he was re-instated by the amnesty of 1976 and retired in 1980. At times in his life he has been a visiting lecturer at the universities of Texas, Indiana and California (USA) and at the Danish University of Aarhus. He has, furthermore, been emeritus professor of the University of California at Santa Barbara and has lectured in various North American, French, English, German and Italian universities.

An assiduous contributor to the Spanish daily press, he has written a great number of essays, which began with "La filosofía de Eugenio d`Ors", and among which, we may single out titles such as "Ética y política" or "La comunicación humana." Last year, the publication of his Complete Works commenced. A finalist for the National Essay Prize in 1979, he was awarded the National Literature Prize in 1989. Among the many distinctions bestowed upon him, José Luis López Aranguren has received the Grand Cross of Alfonso X the Wise, the Gold Medal of Sant Jordi and the Gold Medal of the Region of Madrid. Furthermore, he is a doctor honoris causa of the Carlos III University in Madrid.