Delfim Santos (1908-1966) e a Fenomenologia
Carlos Morujão
Phainomenon October 1, 2011 DOI: 10.2478/phainomenon-2011-0006 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Delfim Santos, though not a phenomenologist, incorporated phenomenological ideas into his philosophy: from Husserl he took the recognition of distinct regions of objectivity and intentionality, from Heidegger a view of man as determined by transcendence and inaccessible to traditional ontological categories, and from Merleau-Ponty and Gestalt psychology a conception of stimuli as motives or occasions, not causes, of meaningful human action. |
Abstract
Abstract Delfim Santos was not a phenomenologist, but his interest concerning phenomenological issues was more than an accident. Familiar with the philosophy of the Vienna Circle, but above all strongly influenced by Nicolai Hartmann, Delfim Santos sees in Husserl’s phenomenology (mainly in Ideas I) the recognition of several kinds or regions of objectivity, each with its peculiar regional essence. At the same time, he looks at the theory of intentionality as acknowledging the necessary relation between any realm of reality that requests thinking activity, and reality itself recognize by thought regarding its ultimate layers of sense. But in this paper, we also show that while addressing existential issues, Delfim Santos came to the careful study Heidegger’s Being and Time; man appears to him as a being determined in his terrestrial life-course by transcendence and, consequently, as in the case of the German philosopher, as belonging to a zone of reality inaccessible to traditional ontological categories. At last, we trace the marks of Merleau-Ponty (as well as Gestalt-psychology) in Delfim Santos’ pedagogical works, particularly in the way he characterizes human action and its relations to physical-chemical stimuli that act not as a cause, but as a motive or occasion for meaningful behavior.