Delfim Pinto dos Santos (1907–1966), was a Portuguese academic, philosopher, educationist, essayist and book and movie reviewer.

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 his craft, which Delfim successfully practiced as apprentice until Arnaldo's untimely death, occurred when the son was aged 15. Still under the impact of his recent orphan condition, the young Delfim kept the family business running for a while, only to become aware that his vocation and motivation lay elsewhere and thereby decided to pursue a lifelong engagement with study and intellectual quest. By that time he had converted from a non-religious upbringing to Protestantism, and became an active member of the cultural and sportive activities of the Portuguese YMCA. By 1927, aged 20 (rather late according to average standards of 16/17) he completed high school and enrolled in the University of Porto Faculty of Arts graduating in History and Philosophy in 1931, being one of the last students of this famous school, closed by the authorities shortly after. He had Leonardo Coimbra and Teixeira Rego as his mentors during his student years and among his colleagues were Agostinho da Silva and Adolfo Casais Monteiro. Immediately after graduation he initiated a career as high school teacher, first in Oporto, then in Lisbon, where he made his ''aggregation exam'' required to become a teacher in state run Portuguese high-schools. Having applied to a fellowship to study under the guidance of

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

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 to the Portuguese funding entity. During the Winter Semester of 1936 he visited Berlin to meet Nicolai Hartmann and

Eduard Spranger Eduard Spranger (27 June 1882 – 17 September 1963) was a German philosopher and psychologist. A student of Wilhelm Dilthey, Spranger was born in Berlin and died in Tübingen. He was considered a humanist who developed a philosophical pedag ...

. Finally, he completed his critical survey of

neopositivism Logical positivism, later called logical empiricism, and both of which together are also known as neopositivism, is a movement in Western philosophy whose central thesis was the verification principle (also known as the verifiability criterion of ...

by moving to the UK and studying with

John Macmurray John MacMurray (16 February 1891 – 21 June 1976) was a Scottish philosopher. His thought both moved beyond and was critical of the modern tradition, whether rationalist or empiricist. His thought may be classified as personalist, as his wri ...

at the University College, London, and with

Charlie Dunbar Broad Charlie Dunbar Broad (30 December 1887 – 11 March 1971), usually cited as C. D. Broad, was an English epistemologist, historian of philosophy, philosopher of science, moral philosopher, and writer on the philosophical aspects of psychic ...

and George Edward Moore at Trinity College, Cambridge, where the neopositivists had another stronghold (in 1939 the later was to be replaced by Ludwig Wittgenstein, a former loose associate 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. In the German capital he attended regularly the philosophical seminar of Nicolai Hartmann while getting also acquainted with some prominent

's disciples like

Ernesto Grassi Ernesto Grassi (2 May 1902 – 22 December 1991) was an Italian philosopher. Life He maintained an intimate friendship with Donald Phillip Verene. Thought Grassi sought to take up the Heideggerean ''Destruktion'' of metaphysics, grounding hi ...

. Delfim Santos 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 The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The u ...

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 1947 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 in 1946 and in Brazil in 1952. In 1950 he became the first Chair 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,Primer Congreso Nacional de Filosofía, Mendoza, Argentina, 30 marzo / 9 abril 1949
/ref> 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 and writers 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). In 1965 he was awarded a decoration by the Education Secretary of the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Works

Most of his writings were assembled in four volumes published by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, ranging from philosophical and educational themes to cultural and 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 (born Alois Franz Trenker, 4 October 1892 – 13 April 1990) was a South Tyrolean film producer, director, writer, actor, architect, Mountaineering, alpinist, and Bobsleigh, bobsledder. Biography Early life Alois Franz Trenker was b ...

, Germany 1934), '' The Third Man'' ( Carol Reed, USA 1949) and ''

Umberto D. ''Umberto D.'' () is a 1952 Cinema of Italy, Italian Italian neorealism, neorealist film directed by Vittorio De Sica. Most of the actors were non-professional, including Carlo Battisti who plays the title role of Umberto Domenico Ferrari, a poor ...

'' ( Vittorio de Sica, Italy 1952). Some of his texts are available online:
SANTOS, Delfim - ''Works in German, Spanish, French and English''
* ttp://www.filosofia.org/aut/003/m49a0840.htm SANTOS, Delfim - ''Pedagogy as Autonomous Science'', Mendoza: 1949

Main topics

Delfim's philosophical writings cover the study of modern and contemporary European thinkers, specially the contemporary German Phenomenologists, adopting the ''

aporetic In philosophy, an aporia ( grc, ᾰ̓πορῐ́ᾱ, aporíā, literally: "lacking passage", also: "impasse", "difficulty in passage", "puzzlement") is a conundrum or state of puzzlement. In rhetoric, it is a declaration of doubt, made for ...

'' and 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 Francisco Suárez, (5 January 1548 – 25 September 1617) 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 ...

(1548–1617), a Spanish scholar active at

between 1597 and 1616. In Education his work was highly influential to the renewal of 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 () is the academic study of character which was prominent in German-speaking countries during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is considered an historic branch of personality psychology, which extended into psychoanaly ...

as an auxiliary to vocational guidance and published several essays on foreign pedagogues, namely on Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi and Maria Montessori, making also pioneering research on some of the most prominent Portuguese educationalists, 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 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, and articulated the Portuguese editions of German author Hermann Hesse, 1946 Literature

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

, 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.

Bibliography

*AAVV. ''Octogésimo Aniversário do Prof. Delfim Santos''. Lisboa: Centro Cultural Delfim Santos 1990. *BELO, José M. C. ''Para uma Teoria Política da Educação: Actualidade do Pensamento Filosófico, Pedagógico e Didáctico de Delfim Santos''. Lisboa: Gulbenkian & FCT 1999. *GANHO, Maria de Lourdes Sirgado. ''O Essencial sobre Delfim Santos''. Lisboa: INCM. *MARINHO, José. 'Delfim Santos e a Filosofia Situada' e 'A Ontofenomenologia em Delfim Santos', in ''Estudos sobre o Pensamento Português Contemporâneo''. Lisboa 1981. *MARQUES, Maria de Lurdes Santos Fonseca. ''O Pensamento Filosófico de Delfim Santos''. Lisboa: INCM 2007. *MIRANDA, Manuel Guedes da Silva. ''Delfim Santos: a Metafísica como Filosofia Fundamental''. Lisboa: Gulbenkian 2003. *MIRANDA, Rui Lopo. 'Delfim Pinto dos Santos', in António NÓVOA (dir.), ''Dicionário de Educadores Portugueses''. Porto: Asa 2003, 1262–1265. *PASZKIEWICZ, Cristiana Abranches de Soveral e. ''A Filosofia Pedagógica de Delfim Santos''. Lisboa: INCM 2000. *QUADROS, António. 'Delfim Santos – Introdução ao Pensamento Filosófico e Pedagógico', ''Leonardo'' 2, 1989. *SOVERAL, Cristiana (ed.). ''Delfim Santos e a Escola do Porto''. Lisboa: INCM 2009. *TEIXEIRA, António Braz. ''O Essencial sobre a Filosofia Portuguesa (sécs. XIX e XX)''. Lisboa: INCM 2008.

References

External links

Delfim Santos Official SiteA blog about the work of Delfim SantosAcademic journal DELFIM SANTOS STUDIES
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Delfim 1907 births 1966 deaths 20th-century Portuguese philosophers Portuguese educators Educational psychologists Portuguese educational theorists Academic staff of the University of Lisbon People from Porto University of Porto alumni Alumni of University College London 20th-century Portuguese educators 20th-century Portuguese writers 21st-century Portuguese educators 21st-century Portuguese writers