Spanish philosopher and lawyer, born in Ronda (Andalusia), of a middle-class family, connected on his mother’s side with an illustrious political family. He graduated in Granada, and very early in life came to the university of Madrid as a professor of jurisprudence. He there felt the influence of Prof. Sanz del Rio, Krause’s famous disciple. Twice he resigned his chair, together with several of his colleagues, in a brave stand for liberty of thought in the university against a reactionary Government, and twice he was reinstated. He was one of the founders of the Institucion Libre de Enseñanza, an educational institution which did much to improve teaching methods in Spain and, when created, was well in advance of its time, not only for Spain but even for Europe in general. He many times refused election to the Cortes, and in 1873 declined a post in the Government. His greatest influence was personal and direct, for he was a born teacher, a man of refined sensibility, pure in his life as in his ideals.
He published several volumes of essays—literary, educational, philosophical and religious—as well as Lecciones Sumarias de Psicologia (1871); La Idea del Derecho (trans. from the German of Röder, 1885); Resumen de Filosofia del Derecho (1898) and other works. A complete edition of his works was undertaken in 1916.
