Devoir de Philosophie

Philosophy in Brazil ?

Publié le 22/02/2012

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It is possible to distinguish between European philosophy in Brazil and Brazilian philosophy. The former refers to Brazilians who participate in discussions of issues occurring in the European philosophic tradition without any reference to Brazilian reality and its problems; the latter to those Brazilian intellectuals who respond to the problems growing out of situations which have confronted the nation historically whether their philosophical orientations have originated in Europe or elsewhere. This entry focuses on the latter and generally follows a historical progression. This progression spans from the precabralian Tupi-Guarani speaking societies of eastern South America to the healthy development of Brazilian philosophy since 1950 after the founding of the Institute of Brazilian Philosophy.

« Early in the century the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus attracted a group of Portuguese disciples.

In 1547 the king founded the Royal College of Humanities at the University of Coimbra and entrusted it to humanists, although within eight years its control was transferred to the Jesuits ( Collegium Conimbricense ).

None the less, northern European and Italian humanism made their impact on sixteenth-century Portugal, even in formulations of scholastic resurgence later in the century at Coimbra.

Among leading Portuguese humanists during the sixteenth century were João de Barros, Damião de Gois, Francisco de Holanda, André de Resende and Francisco de Sá de Miranda. The famous School of Sagres in southern Portugal, which provided training in navigational skills and the use of new navigational instruments, cannot be considered a research centre for experimental science.

However, the publications of several Portuguese involved in navigation, or who had the opportunity for travel to foreign lands, point to a decided change in orientation concerning the study of natural science, as well as to the beginnings of experimental methodology in the effort to understand natural phenomena.

Among the experientialists were Duarte Pacheco Pereira and Garcia de Orta.

The experimentalists include Pedro Nunes and José de Castro.

Worthy of mention also is the sceptic and forerunner of Cartesian methodology Francisco Sanches . The instruments of the Counter-Reformation, including Inquisition and Index, became operative during the sixteenth century and the Society of Jesus was given responsibility for the direction of Portuguese educational curricula in 1555.

However, the resurgence of Scholasticism, which had one of its points of origin at the University of Coimbra, was not a retrenchment to earlier orthodoxy, but an advance in the great tradition.

Those who moulded the Second Scholasticism at Coimbra hailed from both Portugal and Spain.

These were Pedro da Fonseca , the 'Portuguese Aristotle' , Luis de Molina and Francisco Suárez .

They produced a new philosophy curriculum referred to as Cursus Conimbricensis . 3 Colonial Brazil: philosophical problems Portugal never established a university in Brazil.

Students were expected to matriculate at the Universities of Coimbra or Évora .

Several monastic orders founded colleges and seminaries where prospective university students could pursue an undergraduate curriculum based on the approved model at Coimbra. The presence of indigenous people posed several unique problems.

Questions were posed regarding whether these people were human, what kind of humans they were and what rights they had to land and liberty.

In 1548 when Portugal sent the first governor-general to consolidate its territories in Brazil the crown made clear that priority was to be given to Christian missions among the indigenous.

Eleven years earlier a papal bull had declared the Indians to be fully human and proscribed deprivations of their freedom or possessions.

In the light of royal regulation and the papal bull the question of the humanity of the Indians and their rights under natural law should not have been raised.

Yet by 1557 Manuel da Nóbrega , director of Jesuit missions, published his Dialogue. »

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