Dedicated to research, Adela Cortina has focused on various dimensions of ethics, particularly in the field of applied ethics, such as consumer ethics and business ethics, where she is considered a leading authority. She is also known for her theory of human rights, grounded in discourse ethics—that is, in communicative rationality.

Her work, which approaches these issues through the scientific knowledge and methodology of Ethics and Political Philosophy, has become a reference point for the implementation of social responsibility, human development, and global justice in organizations.

Cortina has authored numerous publications, among which the following stand out:

• Ethics Without Morals: Introduction to Practical Philosophy (1986),

• Applied Ethics and Radical Democracy (1993),

• Citizens of the World (1997),

• For an Ethics of Consumption (2002),

• Ethics of Cordial Reason: Educating for Citizenship (2007, winner of the International Jovellanos Essay Prize),

• The Frontiers of the Person: The Value of Animals, the Dignity of Humans (2009),

• The Ethical Roots of Democracy (2010), and

• Neuroethics and Neuropolitics: Suggestions for Moral Education (2011).

In 2014, she received Spain’s National Essay Prize for her book What Is Ethics Really For? (2013).

Cortina is the Director of the ÉTNOR Foundation (for Ethics in Business and Organizations). She has served as a member of the Advisory Council of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs and the National Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction.

In 2008, she became the first woman to join the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. She has been awarded honorary doctorates from the Polytechnic University of Cartagena, the University of Alcalá, the University of Murcia, the University of Deusto, the Jaume I University of Castellón, and six other Ibero-American universities.

In 2013, she received the Karl-Otto Apel International Philosophy Award.

Adela Cortina is widely regarded as one of the most important philosophers in Spanish history.