Tarcísio Meirelles Padilha (17 April 1928 – 9 September 2021) was a Brazilian

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and chairman of the

Brazilian Academy of Letters The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL) ( English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literature, literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its found ...

. He was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, on 17 April 1928, the son of Raymundo Delmiriano Padilha and D. Mayard Meirelles Padilha. In 1951, he married Ruth Maria Fortuna Padilha, and the couple has six children.

Biography

Padilha did his schooling at the Grupo Escolar D. Pedro II in

Petrópolis Petrópolis (; ), also known as The Imperial City, is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil. It is located in the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro, northeast of the ci ...

, the Colégio Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora in

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...

and the Colégio Santo Inácio. He obtained a BA in Philosophy and Law from the

Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro ( pt, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, PUC-Rio) is a Jesuit, Catholic, pontifical university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the joint responsibility of the Catholic Ar ...

. He also studied at the Escola Superior de Guerra and the

Universidade Federal Fluminense The Fluminense Federal University (Portuguese: ''Universidade Federal Fluminense'', UFF, named after the state's demonym) is a public higher education institution located mainly in Niterói and in other cities of Rio de Janeiro state. It was fi ...

. He obtained his PhD in Philosophy from the

State University of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ; pt, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) is a public university, public research university in the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is one of the largest and most prestigious ...

. He has taught Philosophy at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (where he served as head of department), the

, the

Universidade Santa Úrsula University Santa Úrsula is a private university (Roman Catholic) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was founded in 1937 by Alceu Amoroso Lima. It was the first of Rio de Janeiro's higher education institutions to accept women. The main campus is loc ...

, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and the Universidade Gama Filho. He was a member of the permanent administrative body of the Escola Superior de Guerra. He was the fifth occupant of Chair 2 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, to which he was elected on 20 March 1997, in succession to Mário Palmério. He was received on 13 June 1997 by academic Arnaldo Niskier. He in turn received the academics Ana Maria Machado, Luiz Paulo Horta and Marco Lucchesi. He chaired the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 2000 and 2001. Padilha died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on 9 September 2021, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil The COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Brazil on 25 February 2020, when a man from São Paulo who had traveled to Italy tested positive for the virus. ...

References

1928 births 2021 deaths Brazilian philosophers Patrons of the Brazilian Academy of Letters Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro alumni Rio de Janeiro State University alumni Fluminense Federal University alumni Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro faculty Rio de Janeiro State University faculty Universidade Santa Úrsula faculty Universidade Gama Filho faculty Federal University of Rio de Janeiro faculty People from Rio de Janeiro (city) Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro (state) {{brazil-philosopher-stub