The candidature of professor Cortina was suggested by Dolors Piera Centre for Equal Opportunities and Promotion of Women and the Faculty of Law and Economics for her merits in the study and application of the ethics to different areas of social life and also for her devotion to the political philosophy, essential in this day. It has also been taken into account the fact that she is a pioneer woman in different aspects of the academic and cultural life.

Adela Cortina was born in Valencia in 1947. She studied a degree in Philosophy and Humanities in the Universitat de València, and in 1976 she defended her doctoral thesis about ‘Dios en la filosofía trascendental kantiana’ (God in Kantian transcendental philosophy).

A research grant allowed her to frequent the University of Munich, where she came into contact with critical rationalism, pragmatism and Marxist ethics, and more specifically, with the philosophy of Jürgen Habermas and Karl-Otto Apel.

When she returned to academic activity in Spain, she definitely directed her research interests towards ethics. In 1981 she joined the Department of Practical Philosophy of the Universitat de València.

In 1986 she obtained the Chair in Moral Philosophy. Her work has also focused on questions concerning economy, business, woman discrimination, war, ecology or genetics

With her work ‘Ética de la razón cordial’ (Ethics of Friendly Reason), she won the Jovellanos International Essay Prize in 2007. She has also received the National Essay Prize in 2014 for her book ‘¿Para qué sirve realmente la ética?’ (What is ethics really useful for?). The award, provided with €20,000, is given by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports.

She had previously been proclaimed honorary doctorate by the universities of Alcalá de Henares, Murcia, Cartagena, Deusto and Universitat Politècnica de València.