Javier Palao recovers the figure of Francisco Murillo, promoter of the studies of Political Science and Sociology in Spain

Francisco Murillo was Professor of Political Law at the University of Valencia between 1952 and 1961.

Javier Palao, professor of History of Law at the University of Valencia, has analysed the legacy of Francisco Murillo Ferrol, professor at the academic institution between 1952 and 1961, and introducer of the studies of Political Science and Sociology to Spain after the Civil War. The work, published in CIAN-Revista de Historia de las Universidades, reconstructs the role of who was also the first director of the Lluís Vives Residence Hall in Valencia.

Francisco Murillo (Granada, 1918) was Professor of Political Law at the University of Valencia from his access to the chair, in 1952, until his departure to the University of Granada in 1961. He was also the first stable holder who had this chair since 1932. Subsequently, he held a chair at the Autonomous University of Madrid, was a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, and received the National Prize of Sociology and Political Science in 2003.

“Murillo is the recognised teacher of most of the prestigious sociologists in Spain (from Carlos Moya to Julio Iglesias de Ussel or Amando de Miguel) and a good part of the political scientists (Fernando Vallespín, for example)”, highlights Javier Palao, who comments that the stay of the professor of Political Law in Valencia “was transcendental in the personal evolution from a comfortable Francoism to a firm commitment to liberal democracy. If the University had been able to keep him, we would have probably begun the Sociology and Political Science studies much earlier”.

Javier Palao emphasises that Francisco Murillo actively participated in the academic life of the Faculty of Law, promoted an interdisciplinary seminar on social sciences focused on sociology and political science, and with which he introduced the main currents of thought in Europe and America. He also created a large library on these matters and created a first group of disciples, among which José Jiménez Blanco, Carlos Moya Valgañón, Francisco Tomás and Valiente, Joaquín Tomás Villarroya, Juan Ferrando Badía and Josep Vicent Marqués stand out.

As Palao points out in his article, Murillo managed to stabilise and restore prestige for a chair that, although he did not stop teaching, he had not conducted any research since 1932, and it had three holders who occupied it effectively (Carlos Sanz Cid, Tomás Elorrieta and Artaza, and Manuel Fraga Iribarne) and several substitute assistants and professors until 1953.

Article:

Javier Palao Gil: «Francisco Murillo Ferrol y los primeros estudios de ciencia política y sociología en la Universidad de Valencia». CIAN-Revista de Historia de las Universidades, 21/2 (2018), 269-297 - DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/cian.2018.4477. ISSN: 1988-8503

Link to the magazine: www.uc3m.es/cian

Photo caption annex:

Javier Palao, professor of History of Law at the University of Valencia.

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