Julián Marías

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Julián Marías Aguilera, (June 17, 1914 – December 15, 2005), was a Spanish academic and writer. His 1941 work History of Philosophy is widely accepted as the greatest work written in Spanish on the subject of the history of philosophy ^{[citation needed]}. He is one of the most famous pupils of the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset.

Marías was born in the city of Valladolid, but moved to Madrid at the age of five. He went on to study philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid, graduating in 1936. Within months of his graduation the Spanish Civil War broke out. During the conflict Marías sided with the Republicans, although his actual contributions were limited propaganda articles and broadcasts.

Following the end of the war in 1939, Marías returned to education. However, his doctoral thesis was rejected by the university, and handed over to the police, after he included a number of lines criticising the rule of Francisco Franco. As a consequence of his writings Marías was briefly imprisoned, and, upon his release, banned from teaching. Fortunately for Marías the proceeds from the sales of his History of Philosophy, which went through countless editions during his lifetime, meant that the punishment did not seriously damage his livelihood.

In 1948 he co-founded, along with his former teacher José Ortega y Gasset, the Instituto de Humanidades (which he went on to head after the death of Ortega in 1955). Between the late 1940s and the 1970s, being unable to teach in Spain, Marías taught at numerous institutions in the United States. These include Harvard University, Yale University, Wellesley College, and UCLA.

Marías wrote on a wide variety of subjects during his long career, but showed a particular interest in Miguel de Cervantes' epic Don Quixote. In 1964 he was elected into the Real Academia Española, and he won a Prince of Asturias award in 1996.

His son, Javier Marías, is also a famous writer.