Tragic Sense of Life is one of the most outstanding philosophical essays of Miguel de Unamuno. Under the influence of Søren Kierkegaard and of Saint Ignacio de Loyola, among others, author made a deep foray into the existential problems of contemporary man, radically distancing himself from the Aristotelian prime mover and affirming the spiritual need to believe in a personal God.

Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) was a Basque essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical essay was The Tragic Sense of Life, and his most famous novel was Abel Sánchez: The History of a Passion, a modern exploration of the Cain and Abel story.