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U.Porto Memory

Teachers and students of the first Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto

Álvaro de Carvalho de Sousa Ribeiro

	1905-1981 Philosopher and Essayist

The only son of José de Sousa Oliveira Guimarães Daun e Lorena Ribeiro and of Angélica Cândida de Carvalho de Sousa Ribeiro, Álvaro Ribeiro was born in the parish of Miragaia – Porto, on 1 March 1905. After he completed his primary education in Lisbon, his high school education was troubled by the constant changes of the family residence and the resistance shown by his parents to his interest in literature, as they tried to arouse his interest in a career in law. Therefore, between 1917 and 1919, he was admitted to a Dominican boarding school in Paris, and returned to Camões High School, in Lisbon, to sit his end of the year exams, which he passed with a final mark of 14 out of 20. Returning to his hometown, in the academic year 1920-1921, he enrolled in the General Secondary Education Course at Rodrigues de Freitas High School, with a short stint at the Almeida Garrett College in the following academic year, and completed the Complementary Course in Literature with a final mark of 10 out of 20, on 7 July 1925.

The life he led in Porto soon aroused his preference for literature, largely due to the contacts he maintained with Leonardo Coimbra and with other members of Renascença Portuguesa, whose headquarters and library he attended on a regular basis, collaborating with literary articles in local literary youth magazines.

Following his family wishes, he enrolled simultaneously in the First Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto and in the Faculty of Law of Coimbra, in the academic year 1925-1926. He did not complete the first year of either of these courses and eventually asked to be transferred to the University of Lisbon, where he attended courses in Law and Philosophical Sciences. On 4 November 1927, he enrolled again in the University of Porto to study Historical-Philosophical Sciences, where he had as fellow student Adolfo Casais Monteiro, and co-founded the magazines "Acção Republicana: quinzenário de estudantes" and "Princípio". He resumed his work with Renascença Portuguesa and attended several literary gatherings sponsored by its members, in particular by many teachers of the First Faculty of Arts, although he assumed a somewhat reserved attitude and did not participate actively in the lively debates.

Although he was not an exceptional student at university, his enormous thirst for knowledge and diligent work earned him the recognition of his teachers, who nominated him on October 1930 for the "Dr. Augusto Ferreira Nobre Award", given to the best student of Ancient History, a subject which, in the meantime, had been suspended after the announcement of the extinction of the Faculty by Decree 15 365, of 12 April 1928. This event ended his dream to become university assistant of Leonardo Coimbra, although many believed that the position would be assigned to his friend José Marinho. He completed the degree in Historical-Philosophical Sciences with a final mark of 15 out of 20, on 8 July 1931.

He was determined to pursue a career as a high school teacher and immediately sat the exams for the professional traineeship at the Pedro Nunes High School, in Lisbon. But the jury found him unfit for lack of voice, which forced him to rethink his future, living with the financial help of his parents and the money earned from some literary works. Influenced by some of his best friends, he then attempted a political career by endorsing the foundation of the opposition movement "Renovação Democrática" [Democratic Renewal] and collaborated in several Republican periodicals, which he soon abandoned after the death of his father and the need to support his mother. In 1933, he joined the civil service, working for the Unemployment Agency as Officer at the Santa Catarina Department, in Lisbon, although he continued to work on the thoughts and ideals of Leonardo Coimbra and Sampaio Bruno, researching and compiling their bibliography at the National Library in the years that followed. In 1938, he worked for the Lisbon City Hall as a clerk, and then was appointed to the Public Works Department (1939) and became 2^nd Class Clerk in the Central and Cultural Department (1940). In 1942, he competed for the position of 1^st Class Technical Expert at the Labour Development Fund.

Throughout the 1940s, he established his own philosophical thought through the publication of works on philosophical education, helped by his contacts with former colleagues from Porto, José Marinho and Agostinho da Silva, and the contacts he had made in Lisbon with important people in the Portuguese cultural circles. He was considered one of the most important supporters of the movement "Filosofia Portuguesa" [Portuguese Philosophy]. By invitation of Eduardo Salgueiro, from 1942 on he collaborated in Editorial Inquérito with translations and writings for the series C – Philosophy and Religion of "Cadernos Inquérito", became one of the founding members of "Sociedade de Língua Portuguesa" [Society of Portuguese Language] and gave conferences on the Portuguese thought and its philosophical speculations.

After the invitation to join the Board of the Casas do Povo [Community Centres], he resigned from the Lisbon City Hall in 1944 and directed "Mesário das Casas do Povo" [the Board of the Community Centres](1946-1971), a publication which was suspended by Marcelo Caetano’s regime. In the meantime, he continued to reflect on anti-rationalism in his conversations with José Marinho, José Régio, Jorge de Sena, Casais Monteiro, Almada Negreiros, among others, in the literary gatherings in Lisbon cafés, and became known as one of the most important masters for the new generation of intellectuals who sought these gatherings. In 1958, he presented a conference on Portuguese Philosophy at the National Cultural Centre and, two years later, he presented a paper entitled "Finalidades das Casas do Povo" [The Objectives of the Community Centres] in the 1^st National Labour Colloquium, maintaining a low profile with regard to his career in the civil service.

After the death of his mother, he began to write to a lady in Porto, whom he married after some time. In 1972, the first signs of his illness began to show. In 1975, he retired from the Central Board of Casa dos Povos, participated in a ministerial conference on Social Studies, and dedicated himself exclusively to Philosophy, in particular the history and characteristics of Portuguese Philosophy over the centuries. He died at the Cruz Vermelha Hospital on 9 October 1981, in Lisbon.

Although his intellectual work was not immediately recognised, Álvaro Ribeiro is seen as a prominent scholar in 20^th century Portuguese philosophical speculation, having addressed multiple topics, including Philosophy, Education, Logic, Psychology and Theology, and retrieved the work of prominent figures of 19^th century Portuguese culture.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2008)