Delfim Santos
Encyclopedia
Delfim Pinto dos Santos was a Portuguese philosopher, author, pedagogue, University professor and occasional book and movie reviewer.
, and became an active member of the cultural and sportive activities of the Portuguese YMCA
.
By 1927, aged 20 (quite late according to average standards) he completed high school and enrolled in the University of Oporto Faculty of Arts graduating in History and Philosophy in 1931, being one of the last students of this famous school, closed by the Government shortly after. He had Leonardo Coimbra and Teixeira Rego as his mentors during his student years and other famous students of this Faculty included Agostinho da Silva
and Adolfo Casais Monteiro.
Immediately after graduation he started a career as high school teacher, first in Oporto, then in Lisbon, where he made his aggregation exam required to became a teacher in Portuguese high-schools. Having applied to a fellowship to study under the guidance of Martin Heidegger
at Freiburg, he was awarded against his will a similar position in Vienna, Austria where he settled by October 1935 as a fellow of the Portuguese Higher Culture Institute, to study under Moritz Schlick
, Karl Bühler and Othmar Spann
, attending some of the famous Vienna Circle seminars, and writing his critical study on Logical Positivism entitled Positivism: a critical reappraisal (Situação Valorativa do Positivismo) which he presented as his two-years fellowship final report. During the Winter Semester of 1936 he visited Berlin to meet Nicolai Hartmann
and Eduard Spranger
. Finally, he completed his critical survey of neopositivism by moving to the UK and studying with John Macmurray
at the University College, London, and with Charlie Dunbar Broad
and George Edward Moore
at the Trinity College (Cambridge), where the neopositivists had another stronghold (in 1939 the later was to be replaced by Ludwig Wittgenstein
, a former prominent member of the Vienna Circle
).
By mid-1937 he returned to Portugal for a short leave and was summoned to take the position of Portuguese Language Lecturer at the Luso-Brazilian Institute of the University of Berlin, a position he was actively seeking in order to become familiar with phenomenology
. There he attended regularly the seminar of Nicolai Hartmann
and studied the work of Martin Heidegger
, whom he was among the first to introduce to a Portuguese audience in his 1938 essay Heidegger and Hölderlin or the Essence of Poetry (Heidegger e Hölderlin ou a Essência da Poesia). Meanwhile Delfim received his PhD in 1940 from Coimbra University presenting a thesis on Knowledge and Reality (Conhecimento e Realidade), and returned to Berlin where he was to remain until 1942, the year in which he permanently resettled in Portugal.
In 1946 he attained the position of Assistant Professor of Pedagogy at Lisbon University, submitting his essay on The Existential Foundations of Pedagogy (Fundamentação Existencial da Pedagogia), considered his most influential work among Portuguese and Brazilian educators and teachers, published in Portugal during that year and in Brazil in 1952. In 1950 he became the first full Professor of Pedagogy in Portugal. Among other subjects, he taught on History of Ancient Philosophy
, History of Education
, Ethics
and School Administration. He also taught Psychology
during several years in the Portuguese Military Academy
.
Delfim attended numerous international Philosophy congresses and symposia, namely the 9th International Congress of Philosophy - Descartes Congress, Paris, France 1937, the 10th International Congress of Philosophy - Amsterdam. Holland 1948, the 1949 'First National Philosophy Congress' in Mendoza, Argentina, organized by the University of Cuyo, and the 1st International Philosophy Congress of Brazil, São Paulo, Brazil, 1954, organized by Miguel Reale
. He also took part in some of the celebrated Eranos
seminars in Switzerland. Under his guidance a Center for Pedagogic Studies was created in 1962 by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
, of which he became the Director until his early death, occurred in 1966, aged 58.
He was member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and exchanged personal correspondence with international scholars such as Mircea Eliade
, Constantin Noica
, Hermann Hesse
and Michael de Ferdinandy. One high school and several streets were named after him in the Portuguese districts of Lisbon, Evora, and Matosinhos (Oporto).
, ranging from philosophical and educational themes to cultural and current issues of his time. His main books are:
Aware of the cinema educational and formative potential, he wrote a number of movie reviews, namely on The Prodigal Son (Luis Trenker
, Germany 1934), The Third Man
(Carol Reed
, USA 1949) and Umberto D.
(Vittorio de Sica
, Italy 1952).
Some of his texts are available online (in Port.):
, anti-systematic approach to philosophical inquiry similar to onto-phenomenologist Nicolai Hartmann
. Also from Hartmann's 'levels of reality' he adapted and further developed his own pluriversal or rather pluriregional views on 'reality', ascribing the scientific method of study exclusively to the material world and not to philosophical matters as the neopositivists propounded. He wrote comprehensively about the history of philosophical thinking in Portugal and Brazil, particularly on Silvestre Pinheiro Ferreira (1769–1846) arguably Brazil's first philosopher, and on Francisco Suárez
(1548–1617), a Spanish scholar active at Coimbra University between 1597 and 1616.
In Education his work was instrumental to foster Portuguese pedagogical ideas, aiming at an existential synthesis between Philosophy and Pedagogy. Delfim made extensive public proposals towards a complete reform of the Portuguese educational system from kindergarten to university, showing a strong concern for professional instruction and apprenticeship; he recommended characterology
as an auxiliary to vocational guidance, and published several essays on foreign pedagogues, namely on Pestalozzi
and Maria Montessori
, also making pioneering research on some of the most prominent Portuguese educationists, notably Almeida Garrett (1799–1854) and Adolfo Coelho (1847–1919).
In the literary and aesthetic field he was one of the directors of the Journal A Águia and one of the first ideologues of the Presença literary movement, (the so-called "Portuguese Second Modernism
) which favored 'psychologism' by paying special attention to the protagonists' inner thoughts and conflicts of conscience in the line of Dostoevsky's novels, and articulated the Portuguese editions of German author Hermann Hesse
, 1946 Literature Nobel laureate, whose work was deeply inspired by educational issues.
Life
Delfim Santos was born in Oporto, Portugal in 1907, to Arnaldo Pinto and Amelia dos Santos Oliveira. His father was a goldsmith and trained him for such craft, which Delfim successfully practiced as an apprentice until the death of his father, occurred when he was aged only 15. Still under the impact of his recent orphan condition, the young Delfim kept the family business running for a while, only to become fully aware that his vocation lay elsewhere, and thereby start answering an inner call for a lifelong engagement with study and intellectual quest. By that time too he had converted from a non-religious upbringing to ProtestantismProtestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
, and became an active member of the cultural and sportive activities of the Portuguese YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
.
By 1927, aged 20 (quite late according to average standards) he completed high school and enrolled in the University of Oporto Faculty of Arts graduating in History and Philosophy in 1931, being one of the last students of this famous school, closed by the Government shortly after. He had Leonardo Coimbra and Teixeira Rego as his mentors during his student years and other famous students of this Faculty included Agostinho da Silva
Agostinho da Silva
George Agostinho Baptista da Silva, GCSE was a Portuguese philosopher, essayist and writer. His thought combines elements of pantheism and millenarism, an ethic of renunciation , and a belief in freedom as the most important feature of man. Anti-dogmatic, he asserts that truth is only found in the...
and Adolfo Casais Monteiro.
Immediately after graduation he started a career as high school teacher, first in Oporto, then in Lisbon, where he made his aggregation exam required to became a teacher in Portuguese high-schools. Having applied to a fellowship to study under the guidance of Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...
at Freiburg, he was awarded against his will a similar position in Vienna, Austria where he settled by October 1935 as a fellow of the Portuguese Higher Culture Institute, to study under Moritz Schlick
Moritz Schlick
Friedrich Albert Moritz Schlick was a German philosopher, physicist and the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle.-Early life and works:...
, Karl Bühler and Othmar Spann
Othmar Spann
Othmar Spann was a conservative Austrian philosopher, sociologist and economist whose radical anti-liberal and anti-Socialist views, based on early 19th century Romantic ideas expressed by Adam Müller et al...
, attending some of the famous Vienna Circle seminars, and writing his critical study on Logical Positivism entitled Positivism: a critical reappraisal (Situação Valorativa do Positivismo) which he presented as his two-years fellowship final report. During the Winter Semester of 1936 he visited Berlin to meet Nicolai Hartmann
Nicolai Hartmann
-Biography:Hartmann was born of German descent in Riga, which was then the capital of the Russian province of Livonia, and which is now in Latvia. He studied Medicine at the University of Tartu , then Philosophy in St. Petersburg and at the University of Marburg in Germany, where he took his Ph.D....
and Eduard Spranger
Eduard Spranger
Eduard Spranger was a German philosopher and psychologist.A student of Wilhelm Dilthey, Spranger was born in Berlin and died in Tübingen....
. Finally, he completed his critical survey of neopositivism by moving to the UK and studying with John Macmurray
John Macmurray
John Macmurray MC was a Scottish philosopher. His thought moved beyond the modern tradition begun by Descartes and continued in Britain by Locke, Berkeley and Hume. He made contributions in the fields of political science, religion, and philosophy of education in a long career of writing,...
at the University College, London, and with Charlie Dunbar Broad
Charlie Dunbar Broad
C. D. Broad was an English epistemologist, historian of philosophy, philosopher of science, moral philosopher, and writer on the philosophical aspects of psychical research...
and George Edward Moore
George Edward Moore
George Edward Moore OM, was an English philosopher. He was, with Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Gottlob Frege, one of the founders of the analytic tradition in philosophy...
at the Trinity College (Cambridge), where the neopositivists had another stronghold (in 1939 the later was to be replaced by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...
, a former prominent member of the Vienna Circle
Vienna Circle
The Vienna Circle was an association of philosophers gathered around the University of Vienna in 1922, chaired by Moritz Schlick, also known as the Ernst Mach Society in honour of Ernst Mach...
).
By mid-1937 he returned to Portugal for a short leave and was summoned to take the position of Portuguese Language Lecturer at the Luso-Brazilian Institute of the University of Berlin, a position he was actively seeking in order to become familiar with phenomenology
Existential phenomenology
Existential phenomenology is a philosophical current inspired by Martin Heidegger's 1927 work Sein und Zeit and influenced by the existential work of Søren Kierkegaard and the phenomenological work of Edmund Husserl....
. There he attended regularly the seminar of Nicolai Hartmann
Nicolai Hartmann
-Biography:Hartmann was born of German descent in Riga, which was then the capital of the Russian province of Livonia, and which is now in Latvia. He studied Medicine at the University of Tartu , then Philosophy in St. Petersburg and at the University of Marburg in Germany, where he took his Ph.D....
and studied the work of Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...
, whom he was among the first to introduce to a Portuguese audience in his 1938 essay Heidegger and Hölderlin or the Essence of Poetry (Heidegger e Hölderlin ou a Essência da Poesia). Meanwhile Delfim received his PhD in 1940 from Coimbra University presenting a thesis on Knowledge and Reality (Conhecimento e Realidade), and returned to Berlin where he was to remain until 1942, the year in which he permanently resettled in Portugal.
In 1946 he attained the position of Assistant Professor of Pedagogy at Lisbon University, submitting his essay on The Existential Foundations of Pedagogy (Fundamentação Existencial da Pedagogia), considered his most influential work among Portuguese and Brazilian educators and teachers, published in Portugal during that year and in Brazil in 1952. In 1950 he became the first full Professor of Pedagogy in Portugal. Among other subjects, he taught on History of Ancient Philosophy
Ancient philosophy
This page lists some links to ancient philosophy. In Western philosophy, the spread of Christianity through the Roman Empire marked the ending of Hellenistic philosophy and ushered in the beginnings of Medieval philosophy, whereas in Eastern philosophy, the spread of Islam through the Arab Empire...
, History of Education
History of education
The history of education its part of the past and present teaching and learning. Each generation, since the beginning of human existence, has sought to pass on cultural and social values, traditions, morality, religion and skills to the next generation. The passing on of culture is also known as...
, Ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
and School Administration. He also taught Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
during several years in the Portuguese Military Academy
Portuguese Military Academy
The Military Academy is a Portuguese military establishment, which has the ability to confer educational qualifications equivalent to a university...
.
Delfim attended numerous international Philosophy congresses and symposia, namely the 9th International Congress of Philosophy - Descartes Congress, Paris, France 1937, the 10th International Congress of Philosophy - Amsterdam. Holland 1948, the 1949 'First National Philosophy Congress' in Mendoza, Argentina, organized by the University of Cuyo, and the 1st International Philosophy Congress of Brazil, São Paulo, Brazil, 1954, organized by Miguel Reale
Miguel Reale
Miguel Reale was a Brazilian jurist, philosopher, academic, politician and poet. Known as one of the most important jurists of Brazil....
. He also took part in some of the celebrated Eranos
Eranos
Eranos is an intellectual discussion group dedicated to the study of psychology, religion, philosophy and spirituality which has met annually in Switzerland since 1933....
seminars in Switzerland. Under his guidance a Center for Pedagogic Studies was created in 1962 by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a Portuguese private foundation of public utility whose statutory aims are in the fields of arts, charity, education, and science...
, of which he became the Director until his early death, occurred in 1966, aged 58.
He was member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and exchanged personal correspondence with international scholars such as Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...
, Constantin Noica
Constantin Noica
Constantin Noica was a Romanian philosopher, essayist and poet. His preoccupations were throughout all philosophy, from epistemology, philosophy of culture, axiology and philosophic anthropology to ontology and logics, from the history of philosophy to systematic philosophy, from ancient to...
, Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
and Michael de Ferdinandy. One high school and several streets were named after him in the Portuguese districts of Lisbon, Evora, and Matosinhos (Oporto).
Works
Most of his writings were assembled in four volumes published by the Calouste Gulbenkian FoundationCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a Portuguese private foundation of public utility whose statutory aims are in the fields of arts, charity, education, and science...
, ranging from philosophical and educational themes to cultural and current issues of his time. His main books are:
- Positivism: a critical reappraisal (Situação Valorativa do Positivismo), 1938.
- On Philosophy (Da Filosofia), 1940.
- Knowledge and Reality (Conhecimento e Realidade), 1940.
- The Existential Foundations of Pedagogy (Fundamentação Existencial da Pedagogia), 1946.
- History of Philosophy in Portugal (O Pensamento Filosófico em Portugal), 1946.
Aware of the cinema educational and formative potential, he wrote a number of movie reviews, namely on The Prodigal Son (Luis Trenker
Luis Trenker
Luis Trenker was a German-language South Tyrolian film director, architect, and actor.-Biography:...
, Germany 1934), The Third Man
The Third Man
The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...
(Carol Reed
Carol Reed
Sir Carol Reed was an English film director best known for Odd Man Out , The Fallen Idol , The Third Man and Oliver!...
, USA 1949) and Umberto D.
Umberto D.
Umberto D. is a 1952 Italian neorealist film, directed by Vittorio de Sica. Most of the actors were non-professional, including Carlo Battisti, who plays the title role...
(Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement....
, Italy 1952).
Some of his texts are available online (in Port.):
- SANTOS, Delfim. Letter to Hermann Hesse, Lisbon: 1948
- SANTOS, Delfim. On Ambiguity in Metaphysics, Mendoza: 1949
- SANTOS, Delfim. Pedagogy as Autonomous Science, Mendoza: 1949
- SANTOS, Delfim. Preface to Hermann Hesse's 'Klein und Wagner, Lisbon: 1952
Main topics
Delfim's philosophical writings cover the study of modern and contemporary European thinkers, specially the contemporary German Phenomenologists, adopting the aporeticAporia
Aporia denotes, in philosophy, a philosophical puzzle or state of puzzlement, and, in rhetoric, a rhetorically useful expression of doubt.-Definitions:...
, anti-systematic approach to philosophical inquiry similar to onto-phenomenologist Nicolai Hartmann
Nicolai Hartmann
-Biography:Hartmann was born of German descent in Riga, which was then the capital of the Russian province of Livonia, and which is now in Latvia. He studied Medicine at the University of Tartu , then Philosophy in St. Petersburg and at the University of Marburg in Germany, where he took his Ph.D....
. Also from Hartmann's 'levels of reality' he adapted and further developed his own pluriversal or rather pluriregional views on 'reality', ascribing the scientific method of study exclusively to the material world and not to philosophical matters as the neopositivists propounded. He wrote comprehensively about the history of philosophical thinking in Portugal and Brazil, particularly on Silvestre Pinheiro Ferreira (1769–1846) arguably Brazil's first philosopher, and on Francisco Suárez
Francisco Suárez
Francisco Suárez was a Spanish Jesuit priest, philosopher and theologian, one of the leading figures of the School of Salamanca movement, and generally regarded among the greatest scholastics after Thomas Aquinas....
(1548–1617), a Spanish scholar active at Coimbra University between 1597 and 1616.
In Education his work was instrumental to foster Portuguese pedagogical ideas, aiming at an existential synthesis between Philosophy and Pedagogy. Delfim made extensive public proposals towards a complete reform of the Portuguese educational system from kindergarten to university, showing a strong concern for professional instruction and apprenticeship; he recommended characterology
Characterology
Characterology is a method of character reading that attempted to combine revised physiognomy, reconstructed phrenology and amplified pathognomy, with ethnology, sociology and anthropology. Developed by L...
as an auxiliary to vocational guidance, and published several essays on foreign pedagogues, namely on Pestalozzi
Pestalozzi
Pestalozzi may refer to:* Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi * Hans A. Pestalozzi Schools with that name:* Colegio Pestalozzi, Argentina* Pestalozzi-Gymnasium Biberach, Germany* Kinderdorf Pestalozzi, Switzerland...
and Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator, a noted humanitarian and devout Catholic best known for the philosophy of education which bears her name...
, also making pioneering research on some of the most prominent Portuguese educationists, notably Almeida Garrett (1799–1854) and Adolfo Coelho (1847–1919).
In the literary and aesthetic field he was one of the directors of the Journal A Águia and one of the first ideologues of the Presença literary movement, (the so-called "Portuguese Second Modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
) which favored 'psychologism' by paying special attention to the protagonists' inner thoughts and conflicts of conscience in the line of Dostoevsky's novels, and articulated the Portuguese editions of German author Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
, 1946 Literature Nobel laureate, whose work was deeply inspired by educational issues.
Sources
- COELHO, Jacinto do Prado. 'Traços Biográficos de Delfim Santos', Março de 1968, intr. to Obras Completas, Vol I. Lisbon: Gulbenkian 1982, v-ix.
- RIBEIRO, Álvaro. Cartas Para Delfim Santos 1931 - 1956. Lisbon: Lusíada.
- SANTOS, Delfim. Curriculum Vitae, Lisbon: author, 1949.
- SANTOS, Delfim. Obras Completas, Lisbon: 3rd rev. ed. currently in print.
External links
- DELFIM SANTOS Official Site
- ASA, Figura de Pedagogo: Delfim Santos, Correio da Educação, Porto.
- ESCOLA DELFIM SANTOS. Biografia do Prof. Delfim Santos. Lisboa.
- GANHO, Maria de Lourdes Sirgado. Da Filosofia de Delfim Santos. Conferência proferida na Escola Delfim Santos. Lisboa: 26 de fev. de 1991.
- GANHO, Maria de Lourdes Sirgado. Delfim Pinto dos Santos. Lisboa: IC, 1998.
See also
- Neopositivism
- Vienna CircleVienna CircleThe Vienna Circle was an association of philosophers gathered around the University of Vienna in 1922, chaired by Moritz Schlick, also known as the Ernst Mach Society in honour of Ernst Mach...
- ExistentialismExistentialismExistentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
- Phenomenology
- Existential phenomenologyExistential phenomenologyExistential phenomenology is a philosophical current inspired by Martin Heidegger's 1927 work Sein und Zeit and influenced by the existential work of Søren Kierkegaard and the phenomenological work of Edmund Husserl....
- OntologyOntologyOntology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
- Nicolai HartmannNicolai Hartmann-Biography:Hartmann was born of German descent in Riga, which was then the capital of the Russian province of Livonia, and which is now in Latvia. He studied Medicine at the University of Tartu , then Philosophy in St. Petersburg and at the University of Marburg in Germany, where he took his Ph.D....
- PedagogyPedagogyPedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
- Philosophy of educationPhilosophy of educationPhilosophy of education can refer to either the academic field of applied philosophy or to one of any educational philosophies that promote a specific type or vision of education, and/or which examine the definition, goals and meaning of education....
- CharacterologyCharacterologyCharacterology is a method of character reading that attempted to combine revised physiognomy, reconstructed phrenology and amplified pathognomy, with ethnology, sociology and anthropology. Developed by L...
- Hermann HesseHermann HesseHermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
- Presença (Portuguese literary movement)