100 years of Spanish philosophy - From modernity to postmodernity

This paper outlines the essential developments in Spanish philosophy of the 20th century. It shows the Spanish philosophy appearing on the European ph ilosophical arena as late as at the beginning of the 20th century and as re lated to the criticism of the project of the European modernity. The ground s of the marginalization of Spain in the frame of modern European philosoph y are not to be looked for only in modern Spanish history, but also in one- sideness of the European conception of the history of philosophy, which gav e privileges to philosophical systems and excluded a wide range of other fo rms of reflection transcending this context. Following from the two histori cal turning points (the civil war 1936-1939 and the transition from dictato rship to democracy 1975-1985) four periods in the development of the Spanis h philosophy of the 20th century are determined: 1. the philosophy of moder nism and its criticism (1898-1939), 2. the philosophy in the "silent period " (1939-1975), 3. the philosophy in the period of transition to democracy ( 1975-1985) and 4. the contemporary philosophy (from 1985 up to present).