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Agostinho da Silva | |
|---|---|
 Digital painting of Agostinho da Silva | |
| Born | (1906-02-13)13 February 1906 |
| Died | 3 April 1994(1994-04-03) (aged 88) Lisbon, Portugal |
| Occupations |
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George Agostinho Baptista da Silva,GCSE (Portuguese pronunciation:[ɐɣuʃˈtiɲuðɐˈsilvɐ];Porto, 13 February 1906 –Lisbon, 3 April 1994) was aPortuguese philosopher, essayist, and writer. His thought combines elements ofpantheism andmillenarism, an ethic of renunciation (like inBuddhism orFranciscanism), and a belief infreedom as the most important feature of man. Anti-dogmatic, he asserts that truth is only found in the sum of all conflicting hypothesis (inparadox). He may be considered apractical philosopher, living and working for a change in society, according to his beliefs.[1]
He is part of a tradition ofvisionary thought that includes FatherAntónio Vieira and the poetsLuís de Camões andFernando Pessoa. LikeJoachim de Fiore, he speaks of the coming of an age in History—the Age of theHoly Spirit—in which mankind and society attain perfection. To Agostinho da Silva, this means the absence of economy, brought about by technological evolution, and the absence of government. It also means that the nature of mankind and the nature of God will become the same. In this sense his philosophy is both aneschatology and anutopy.[2]
(translated and adapted from: Romana Brázio Valente, "Agostinho da Silva: Síntese Biográfica")
George Agostinho Baptista da Silva was born inPorto in 1906. Later that same year, he moved toBarca d'Alva (Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo), where he lived until about 6 years of age. From 1924 to 1928 he studiedClassical Philology at theFaculdade de Letras ofUniversity of Porto. After graduation he began contributing to theSeara Nova magazine (a collaboration that continued until 1938).
From 1931, as a scholarship student, he attendedSorbonne andCollège de France (Paris). In 1933 he commenced teaching atAveiro high school but was discharged in 1935 for refusing to sign a statement—then mandatory to all civil servants—which renounced participation in secret (thus subversive) organizations.
He created theNúcleo Pedagógico Antero de Quental in 1939, and in 1940 began publishingIniciação: cadernos de informação cultural. He was arrested by the secret police in 1943 and left the country the following year.
He lived inBrazil from 1947 to 1969 due to his opposition to theauthoritarian regime of theEstado Novo (New State). He taught atFaculdade Fluminense de Filosofia and collaborated withJaime Cortesão in research aboutAlexandre de Gusmão (18th century diplomat). From 1952 to 1954 he taught atFederal University of Paraíba inJoão Pessoa and also inPernambuco.
In 1954, again with Jaime Cortesão, he helped organize the 4th Centennial Exhibition ofSão Paulo. He was one of the founders ofUniversity of Santa Catarina, created theCentro de Estudos Afro-Orientais (Afro-Oriental Studies Center), taughtTheater Philosophy atUniversity of Bahia, and, in 1961, became an external policy adviser to the Brazilian presidentJânio Quadros. He helped create theUniversidade de Brasília and itsCentro de Estudos Portugueses (Portuguese Studies Center), in 1962, and, two years later, created theCasa Paulo Dias Adorno inCachoeira and idealizes theMuseu do Atlântico Sul inSalvador.
He returned to Portugal in 1969 after Salazar's illness and replacement byMarcello Caetano, which created some political and cultural opening in the regime. He continued to write and teach at Portuguese universities. He directed theCentro de Estudos Latinoamericanos (Latin-American Studies Center) atTechnical University of Lisbon, and acted as a consultant toInstituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa (ICALP, Portuguese Culture and Language Institute).
In 1990, the Portuguese public television channel RTP1 broadcast a series of thirteen interviews with him entitledConversas Vadias. He died atSão Francisco de Xavier Hospital inLisbon in 1994.
A documentary entitledAgostinho da Silva: Um Pensamento Vivo, directed byJoão Rodrigues Mattos, was released by Alfândega Filmes, in 2004. There is an unreleased interview byAntónio Escudeiro entitledAgostinho por Si Próprio, where he talks about the worship of theHoly Spirit.
He's revered as one of the leading Portuguese intellectual personalities of the 20th century. Among his works are biographies ofMichelangelo,Pasteur andSt. Francis of Assisi; his most influential book may beSete Cartas a Um Jovem Filósofo (Seven Letters to a Young Philosopher).
He was a vegetarian.[3]
(translated from: Silva, Agostinho da,Educação de Portugal. Lisboa: Ulmeiro, 1989.ISBN 978-972-706-213-3)
a) "... that each man is different from myself and unique in the universe; that I am not the one, consequently, that must reflect instead of him, [...] that knows what is best for him, [...] that must point his way. Towards him I have only one right: helping him to be himself; as my essential duty to myself is being who I am, as uncomfortable as that may be [...]"
b) "... loving others and wanting their good has been the reason of much oppression and much death [...]; essentially, you must not love in others anything but freedom, theirs and yours. They must, for love, cease being slaves, as must we, for love, cease being slave owners."
c) "And it is the child the one that must be considered thenoble savage, spoiling her, mis-shaping her [...] the least we possibly can [...]"
d) "Believing, thus, that man is born good, which means on my regard that he is born a brother to the world, not its owner and destroyer, I think that education [...] has not been much else than the system through which this fraternity is transformed in domination."
According to Agostinho da Silva, some of the most relevant aspects that shaped the nature of the Portuguese people and influenced the culture of Portuguese-speaking nations are: its popular religiousness, with strong elements ofmillenarism andmysticism; a tradition of participatory democracy and autonomy based on small local communities; a tendency towards cultural miscegenation andcosmopolitanism in balance with a nostalgia for the homeland and its cultural heritage; a slow and difficult adaptation tomodernity, namely toEnlightenment ideas and capitalist economy.
