Gregorio Marañón

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Gregorio Marañón, 1929

Gregorio Marañón y Posadillo (born May 19, 1887 in Madrid ; † March 27, 1960 ibid) was a Spanish medic, writer, philosopher and historian.

Live and act

Marañón was the son of a lawyer. His mother died when he was three years old. From 1902 he studied medicine in Madrid. During his studies, he also dealt with literature and history. Shortly before completing his medical studies, Marañón received the Martínez Molina Prize from the Real Academia de Medicina. In 1910 he received his doctorate in medicine. After medical studies with Paul Ehrlich in Frankfurt am Main, he returned to Madrid and soon became a well-known doctor there. In 1911 he began working at the Hospital General de Madrid, and he married Dolores Moya. They had four children together: Carmen, Belén, María Isabel and Gregorio. Pioneering medical research followed, mainly into the activity of the glands. Marañón saw endocrinology and psychoanalysis as complementary research areas. He saw Sigmund Freud's greatest achievement in medicine as having restored the humanistic perspective. He was one of the few prominent Spanish doctors who knew Freud personally and published opinions on psychoanalysis. In 1920 he was appointed professor at the University of Madrid.

In the summer of 1922, Marañón accompanied King Alfonso XIII on a trip to the border region of Las Hurdes in Extremadura . Like other intellectuals of his time, he was politically and socially active. In 1924, Marañón was elected President of the Ateneo de Madrid , an important cultural and scientific institution. He fought against the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and was sentenced to one month in prison in 1926. At the same time he criticized communism. In 1930 his main work La evolucion de la sexualidad humana y los estados intersexuales (The evolution of human sexuality and the intersexual conditions) appeared. In 1931 Marañón was appointed to the newly created Chair of Endocrinology at the Complutense University of Madrid . He founded the Institute for Medical Pathology. After the king went into exile, Marañón was elected to the Constituent Assembly for the Republicans . From December 1936 to autumn 1942 he lived in exile outside Spain because of the civil war and settled with his family in Paris. After his return he resumed his scientific work in Madrid. As a politician he belonged with his friend Ortega y Gasset , for whose Revista de Occidente he wrote, with Pío Baroja and José Martínez Ruiz to the spiritual fathers of the Spanish republic. Until his death in 1960, Marañón worked as a scientist and left behind a broad and internationally recognized work.

The doctor

Marañón in his library, 1931

Two component theory of emotion

Marañón had extensive knowledge of psychopathology. In his emotion theory he analyzed three basic elements, namely psychological, expressive and vegetative elements, which are important for the development of emotions. He defined emotions as subjective states that manifest themselves as internal, latent and external, manifest behavior with different physiological reaction patterns.

Marañón was the first to study the subjectively felt and perceived effects of parenterally administered adrenaline . Adrenaline increases arousal because it stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. He injected different doses of adrenaline into 210 healthy people and observed the latency, duration, intensity and type of reaction. Some of the subjects (around 70%) reported physical sensations that were accompanied by emotions. However, the emotions were described as cold and indefinite ( “as if feelings” ). Another part of the test persons (around 30%) reported real, mostly negative feelings. Marañón also managed to specifically induce emotions. When test subjects were asked to remember their deceased parents, for example, the grief reactions intensified. The same prompt without an adrenaline injection had no effects. So, according to Marañón, the perception of the physical change is not a sufficient condition for experiencing an emotion. Their interpretation also seems to play a role. These observations led to his two-component theory of emotion , which he published in 1924.

He concluded that sensations of physiological arousal, while a necessary condition for experiencing an emotion, were not a sufficient condition, as the one-component theory of William James claims. Marañón postulated that emotions consist of a physical and a psychological component. The physical component of emotions consists of the physical changes that accompany the excitation of the sympathetic nervous system and that are subjectively perceived as sensations of excitation (e.g. cold hands, accelerated heartbeat). The psychological component of the emotions includes cognitions about the events that led to the physical changes. The psychological component is used to interpret the perceived physical changes. According to Marañón, a complete emotion only arises when both emotion components are present. His two-component theory of emotion already contains essential ideas of the two-factor theory of emotion published by Schachter and Singer in 1962 .

Theory of the progressive differentiation of sexuality

In addition, Marañón created a theory of the progressive differentiation of sexuality, which was based on his endocrinological, developmental and sexual psychological research: “According to Marañón, there is initially a phase of undifferentiated sexuality in human development. Male and female elements form successive degrees of development of a function and not opposite poles, but a continuum. Marañón justified this with the evolutionary development of sexuality from single-sex or hermaphrodite to bisexual reproduction with the gender difference between female and male beings, which for him also shows in the individual evolution of humans. [...] First, the choice of the sexual object is unspecific, followed by the choice of the opposite sex as the sexual object, which serves to preserve the species. With increasing differentiation, the selection becomes more and more restricted and is based more clearly on specific characteristics or properties of individuals. At the highest level of differentiation, instinct is directed towards a single individual, outside of whom there is no attraction. Marañón considered the love affairs of a don Juan to be an undifferentiated degree of love at a lower level of development, which comes closest to bisexual love. "

The writer

Marañón bust in the municipality of Jódar, Jaén province

Marañón worked in addition to his medical profession as a writer and historical researcher.

Olivares. The decline of Spain as a world power

His monograph Olivares became internationally known . The decline of Spain as a world power (1936, German 1939). In it he draws the portrait of a powerful minister of King Philip IV of Spain , who directed the fortunes of Spain for almost a quarter of a century. Marañón describes Gaspar de Guzmán, Conde de Olivares as a man who, with idealism and zeal for work, wanted to restore Spain to world renown and ultimately only led it deeper into decline. With his greatness and patriotism, Olivares stood in contrast to the ailing society of Spain, which took bitter revenge on him after losing royal favor.

Tiberius. Story of a resentment

In his work Tiberius. History of Resentment (1939, German 1952) processed Marañón Friedrich Nietzsche's view of resentment . He comes to the conclusion that the Roman Emperor Tiberius suffered from a mental and cognitive disorder that led to a distorted perception of reality and self. The resentment syndrome results from reluctance and traumatizing failures towards women or society. Pessimism, trepidation and fearfulness are combined with a resentment against fate. Such people are resentful, pedantic and hypocritical.

Memberships and honors

Marañón was a member of five of the eight royal academies of Spain: Real Academia Española, Real Academia de la Historia, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Real Academia Nacional de Medicina and Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. A hospital in Madrid (Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón) and numerous streets and educational institutions across Spain bear his name.

Fundación José Ortega y Gasset-Gregorio Marañón

The Fundación José Ortega y Gasset-Gregorio Marañón is a private foundation dedicated to the dissemination of culture, education, scientific discourse and research in the humanities and social sciences. It was founded in 1978 by Soledad Ortega Spottorno. The foundation operates a number of centers with different departments. Its activities include postgraduate studies, university courses for foreign students, practice-oriented research, maintaining international scientific relationships, seminars and congresses, conferences, publications, courses for Spanish teachers, as well as exhibitions and round tables with representatives from the fields of politics, business and science. In Spain, the Foundation has offices in Madrid and Toledo. It also operates international branches in Argentina with headquarters in Buenos Aires, in Colombia with headquarters in Bogotà, in Mexico with headquarters in the Colegio de Mejico, as well as in the Dominican Republic, Chile and Peru.

“Y por la ciencia, como por el arte, se va al mismo sitio: a la verdad. Además, lo que importa es el camino. El camino es el que hace entretenidos los días y gratas las noches. El fin es siempre un sueño. Y quizá el verdadero fin es nunca llegar. [For science, as for art, it is about the same concern: the truth. What also matters is the way. It is the path that prepares varied days and pleasant nights. The end is always a dream. And maybe the real purpose is never to arrive.] "

- Gregorio Marañón: Vocación y Ética

Fonts (selection)

  • About sex life. Heidelberg 1928 (with an introduction by Hermann Graf Keyserling )
  • Olivares. The decline of Spain as a world power. Munich 1939 (with an introduction by Ludwig Pfandl ) (El Conde-Ducque de Olivares)
  • Tiberius. Story of a resentment. Munich 1952 (Tiberio. Historia de un resentimento, 1939, 1941²)
  • Don juan Legend and reality. Darmstadt 1954
  • Antonio Perez. State Secretary Philip II. Wiesbaden 1959
  • Gregorio Marañón and Alfredo Juderías: Obras Completas [Complete Works]. Espasa-Calpe, Madrid 1966 ff.

Literature (selection)

  • Granjel, Luis S .: Gregorio Marañón. Su Vida Y Su Obra. Guadarrama, Madrid 1960
  • Laín, Entralgo P .: Gregorio Marañón. Vida, Obra Y Persona. Espasa-Calpe, Madrid 1969
  • Keller, Gary D .: The Significance and Impact of Gregorio Marañón. Literary Criticism, Biographies, and Historiography. Bilingual Press, Jamaica, NY 1977
  • Gómez-Santos, Marino: Gregorio Marañón. Plaza & Janés Editores, Barcelona 2001
  • Erb, Annette: On the history of psychology in and between Spain and Germany from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. Diss. FU Berlin 2005
  • Vandebosch, Dagmar: Y No Con El Lenguaje Preciso De La Ciencia. La Ensayistica De Gregorio Marañon En La Entreguerra Española. Droz, Genève 2006

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.biografiasyvidas.com: Gregorio Marañón, accessed on March 29, 2015
  2. ↑ Annette Erb: On the history of psychology in and between Spain and Germany from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, Diss. FU Berlin 2005, p. 85
  3. ↑ Annette Erb: On the history of psychology in and between Spain and Germany from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, Diss. FU Berlin 2005, p. 86
  4. ↑ Achim Reindell: Metabolism, in: The Psychology of the 20th Century, Vol. IX, Results for Medicine (1), Zurich 1979, p. 468
  5. ^ Gregorio Marañón: Contribution a l'etude de l'action emotive de l'adrenaline. Revue Francaise d'Endocrinologie, Vol. 2 (1924), pp. 301-325
  6. ↑ Gerd Mietzel: Ways in Psychology. 14th edition, Stuttgart 2008, p. 421
  7. ↑ Annette Erb: On the history of psychology in and between Spain and Germany from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, Diss. FU Berlin 2005, p. 175 f.
  8. ↑ www.ortegaygasset.edu: The foundation and its goals, accessed on March 28, 2015
  9. ↑ Gregorio Marañón: Vocación y Ética, in: Obras completas 9, Ensayos second Espasa-Calpe, Madrid 1973, p 389

Web links

Commons : Gregorio Marañón  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Marañón, Gregorio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marañón y Posadillo, Gregorio (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish medic, writer, philosopher, historian and professor of endocrinology
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Madrid
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1960
Place of death Madrid