URRÁBURU, JUAN JOSÉ

Spanish philosopher who contributed heavily to the textbook or manual tradition of contemporary scholasticism and thomism; b. Ceanuri, Spain, May 20, 1844; d. Burgos, Aug. 10, 1904. He entered the Society of Jesus on May 3, 1860, at Loyola, where after finishing his own studies, he taught rhetoric and humanities. He also taught philosophy and theology at Poyanne, France. In 1878, Urráburu was assigned to teach philosophy at the Gregorian University. After nine years he returned to Spain to assume administrative posts as rector successively of the College at Valladolid (1887–90), Colegio Maximo, Oña (1891–97), and the Jesuit seminary at Salamanca (1898–1902). During that period he published his famous manuals, Institutiones philosophicae (8 v. Valladolid 1890–1900), summarized later in his Compendium philosophiae scholasticae (5 v. Valladolid, 1902–04, 1924, 1927). These works assimilated to the scholastic tradition what he considered valuable in the rationalist and empiricist traditions and rejected what he found wanting. The influence of St. thomas aquinas and of F. suÁrez is dominant, although that of R. descartes, C. wolff, and I. kant is also noticeable.

Bibliography: j. l. perrier, The Revival of Scholastic Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century (New York 1909). c. eguÍa ruiz, "A propósito del centenario natal del P. Urráburu," Estudios Eclesiásticos 19 (1945) 45–59. a. nadal, "La psicología del P. Urráburu," Razón y Fe 14 (1906) 314–330.

[n. j. wells]