José Miguel Gambra Gutiérrez (born 1950) is a Spanish philosopher and politician. He is known mostly as the expert in logic and in the theory of predicates; since the 1980s he has been holding various teaching positions at Facultad de Filosofía of Universidad Complutense in Madrid. He is also recognized as a theorist of political and social science; Gambra advances the Traditionalist vision of state and society. In politics he adheres to the Carlist cause. In 2010-2021 he was leading one of two Traditionalist organisations in Spain, Comunión Tradicionalista.

Family and youth

Gambra's paternal ancestors for generations have been related to Valle del Roncal;until today Casa Gambra and Casa Sanz are iconic mansions of the area, compare Qué visitar section at the Ayuntamiento de Roncal web page, available here , or Roncal section at the vallederoncal tourist service, available here they made their name fighting the French in 1809.Rafael Gambra, El Valle de Roncal en la Guerra de la Independencia, [in:] Principe de Viana 20/76-77 (1959), pp. 187–215 His great-grandfather Pedro Francisco Gambra BarrenaABC 25.05.30, available here rose to high positions in Ministry of Economy.in the late 1870s he was jefe de administración honorario employed in Dirección General de Propiedades y Derechos de Estado, see Guía Oficial de España 1879, p. 642, available here. In the late 1880s he served as administrador de contribuciones in the province of Madrid, see La Iberia 28.05.89, available here, becoming Delegado de Hacienda in Valladolid in 1896, see La Iberia 28.01.96, available here. In 1911 he rose to debt and budget administration in the ministry, Guía Oficial de España 1911, p. 514, available here His son and Gambra's paternal grandfather Eduardo Gambra Sanz (1878–1964)ABC 11.08.64, available here was an architect;Rafael Gambra, gran filósofo tradicionalista, [in:] Fundación Nacional Francisco Franco service, available here his key works are offices of Sociedad Gran Peña along the Madrid Gran Viasee drafts and sketches at Europeana service, available here and refurbishment of Palacio del Marqués de Miraflores and the Omnia building at Plaza de Colón,Ignacio Hernando de Larramendi, Así se hizo Mapfre. Mi tiempo, Madrid 2000, , pp. 29–30 marked by attempt to re-capture the splendor of historical Spanish architecture.Rafael Gambra, gran filósofo tradicionalista, [in:] Fundación Nacional Francisco Franco, available here His wife and Gambra's paternal grandmother Rafaela Ciudad Villalón was daughter to José Ciudad Aurioles,ABC 10.02.15, available here a deputy,see the official Cortes service, available here senator,see the official Senate service, available here and President of Tribunal Supremo.Rafael Gambra, gran filósofo tradicionalista, [in:] Fundación Nacional Francisco Franco Their son and Gambra's father, Rafael Gambra Ciudad (1920–2004), served as adolescent requeté during the Civil War, first in Tercio de AbárzurzaManuel Santa Cruz Alberto Ruiz de Galarreta, Rafael Gambra. un hombre cabal, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 2004 (10), p. 174 and then in Tercio del Alcázar.a battalion composed mostly of the Castilians, for its operational history see Julio Aróstegui, Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil española, 1936–1939, Madrid 2013, ISBN 9788499709758, p. 653-667 In the Francoist Spain he made his name as a Catholic philosopher and writer; he denounced secularization of the new consumer society and remained highly skeptical about religious change triggered by Vaticanum II. Gambra Ciudad is considered one of the greatest Traditionalist theorists of all time;Rafael Gambra Ciudad 1920–2004, [in:] Filosofia service, available here since 2001 he was leading the branch of Carlism loyal to Sixto de Borbón.Miguel Ayuso Torres, Rafael Gambra en el pensamiento tradicional español, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), pp. 162–164

Gambra Ciudad was married to María del Carmen Gutiérrez Sánchez (1921–1984), translator, scholarshe was professor of history and geography at Instituto Ramiro de Maeztu in Madrid, Miguel Arazuri, [in:] BiblioRomance service, available here and as Miguel Arazuri the author of numerous novels, popular especially in the 1950s and the 1960s.she authored some 30 novels, some of them forming part of a wider entity, see Miguel Arazuri, [in:] BiblioRomance service, available here She was also the founder and manager of Fundación Stella, an independent radio venture.Santa Cruz 2004, p. 176 Except the turn of the 1940s and 1950s, when the couple resided in Pamplona, they lived in Madrid. They had three children, Andrés, Irene and José Miguel.Luis Hernando de Larramendi, In memoriam. Rafael Gambra. Los Gambra y los Larramendi: una mistad carlista, [in:] Anales de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada 10 (2004), p. 172 None of the sources consulted provides information on José's early education; since in the mid-1950s the family moved from Pamplona to Madrid, most likely he frequented schools in the Spanish capital.at times referred to as "Navarro", Mártires de la Tradición, Madrid 2014: primer reportaje entry, [in:] Molle Lazo blog 16.03.14 [link https://mollelazo.blog*pot.com/2014/03/martires-de-la-tradicion-madrid-2014.html blocked by Wikipedia, entering at own responsibility] He then entered an unspecified university and at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s studied philosophy; it is not clear when exactly he graduated.J.B., Prof. José Miguel Gambra – nowy "premier" legitymistycznej Hiszpanii, [w:] Legityzmizm service, available here

At unspecified time though probably in the 1970s Gambra married María de las Mercedes Mariné Sánz.Crónica de la Cena de Cristo Rey 2015, [in:] Mollelazo blog 08.11.15, [link https://mollelazo.blog*pot.com/2015/11/ blocked by Wikipedia, entering at own responsibility] None of the sources consulted provides any information either on her or her family and it is not clear whether the two were distantly connected by virtue of their relationship to the Sanz family. They have 8 children.J.B., Prof. José Miguel Gambra – nowy "premier" legitymistycznej Hiszpanii, [w:] Legityzmizm service, available here Olalla Gambra Mariné is a scholar of history of art; she specializes in Christian iconographyher PhD thesis was titled El símbolo de la fe y su iconografía en el arte medieval hispánico, see Dialnet Unirioja service, available here and was related to Universidad San Pablo-CEU de Madrid.Rafael Gambra Ciudad entry, [in:] Filosofia service, available here Paula is involved in female Carlist organization Margaritas and was its Jefa Nacional;Cena homenaje a Gabriela Morales, delegada de las Margaritas en la Nueva España, [in:] Margaritas Tradición blog 18.07.07 [link http://margaritastradicion.blog*pot.com/2007/ blocked by Wikipedia, entering at own responsibility] in 2007 she unsuccessfully ran for the Madrid ayuntamiento on a Catholic list.Boletín Oficial de la Comunidad de Madrid 162 (01.05.2007), available here Her sister María ran for the Senate in 2008 and also failed.BOE 06.02.08, available here Sons are not known as public figures; one is a lawyerfor Marcos Gambra Mariné see his professional profile at the LinkedIn service, available here while others hold junior business positions.for Miguel Gambra Mariné see his professional profile at the LinkedIn service, available here; he was also jefe of Juventudes Tradicionalistas of Madrid. For Clara Gambra Mariné see her professional profile at the LinkedIn service, available here Among other relatives the best known one is Gambra's brother Andrés Gambra Gutiérrez; he serves as professor of medieval historyAndrés Gambra Gutiérrez was or is related to UCM, UNED, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Colegio Universitario Domingo de Soto (Segovia), Universidad Francisco (Vitoria) and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, see D. Andrés Gambra Gutierrez, [in:] Universidad Rey Juan Carlos service, available here; for some of his works see dialnet.unirioja service, available here and is the university official at Universidad San Pablo-CEU.he served as secretario general and member of Consejo de Gobierno, D. Andrés Gambra Gutierrez, [in:] Universidad Rey Juan Carlos service, available here Their sister Irene works as a librarian at Complutense.see Biblioteca Complutense service, available here

Academic career

Following graduation Gambra commenced doctoral research at Universidad Complutense in Madrid. In the mid-1970s he applied for membership in Cuerpo de Catedráticos de Enseñanza Media and in 1975 he was included on the list of aspirantes a las oposiciones a cátedras de Filosofía, Griego, Latin de Institutos Nacionales de Enseñanza Media, the pool of secondary school teachers.BOE 12.05.75, available here Gambra passed appropriate exams in the turno libre mode and in 1976 he was confirmed as a teacher of philosophy in Instituto Nacional de Bachillerato de Porriño, a public secondary school in Galicia.BOE 12.06.76, available here It is not clear whether and if yes how long he was teaching in Porriño. He completed his doctoral research with a thesis titled La doctrina de la analogía en la obra de Santiago María Ramírez: hermenéutica tomista y nuevas aportaciones. Written under the guidance of Leopoldo Eulogio Palacios, it was dedicated to philosophical theory of a renowned Spanish theologian, the one which Gambra knew personally as a friend to his father.Miguel Ayuso, Los antimaritainianos de la ‘Rive Droite’, [in:] Verbo 529–530 (2014), p. 852 The dissertation was accepted at Complutense and earned Gambra the PhD laurels in 1977.see e.g. Dialnet Unirioja service, available here

Becoming eligible to junior post of assistant professor, in 1978 Gambra applied for entry into Cuerpo de Profesores Adjuntos de Universidad; he was targeting the Lógica section within the Filosofía y Letras faculty. He was included on the list of 20 applicants who competed for 6 vacant positionsBOE 25.04.78, available here but it is not clear whether he was successful. However, some time at the turn of the 1970s and the 1980s Gambra obtained an academic position; in 1982 and by virtue of "concurso de traslado", which is normally applied to academics changing posts, he was admitted to Adjuncia de Lógica at Facultad de Filosofía y Letras at Universidad Complutense.BOE 03.06.82, available here He continued as professor adjunto in Madrid for a few years.BOE 29.01.83, available here

In 1986 latest Gambra made a further step in his academic career and was nominated professor titular at the Complutense,BOE 13.12.86, available here thus becoming a tenured full-time associate professor. During the following decades he was related to Departamento de Lógica y Filosofía de la Ciencia. It is not sure whether at any time he assumed directorship of the unit, though he became regular member of numerous academic bodies which inspected applications to Cuerpo de Funcionarios Docentes.Boletín Oficial de la Comunidad de Madrid 29.04.10, available here He continued as professor titular during the 1990s and 2000s.BOE 07.05.02, available here In 2018 he was nominated to catedrático, the highest academic university rank in Spain. During the evaluation process his "valoración global" figure was calculated as 90,4.Concurso 18029-P. Valoración, [in:] Universidad Complutense de Madrid service, available here His area of competence was specified as Lógica y Filosofía de la Ciencia at department of Lógica y Filosofía Teórica, within Facultad de Filosofía.Resolución Rectoral de 12 de enero de 2018, [in:] Universidad Complutense de Madrid service, available here, also Boletín Oficial de la Comunidad de Madrid 28.05.18, available here Though he already reached the retirement age, Gambra is still performing teaching role at the Logic and Philosophy of Science Department.Departamento de Lógica y Filosofía de la Ciencia, [in:] Universidad Complutense de Madrid service, available here

Philosopher