The Most Famous
PHILOSOPHERS from Brazil
This page contains a list of the greatest Brazilian Philosophers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,081 Philosophers, 3 of which were born in Brazil. This makes Brazil the birth place of the 42nd most number of Philosophers behind Denmark and Finland.
Top 3
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Brazilian Philosophers of all time. This list of famous Brazilian Philosophers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Paulo Freire (1921 - 1997)
With an HPI of 68.16, Paulo Freire is the most famous Brazilian Philosopher. His biography has been translated into 44 different languages on wikipedia.
Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (19 September 1921 – 2 May 1997) was a Brazilian educator and philosopher who was a leading advocate of critical pedagogy. His influential work Pedagogy of the Oppressed is generally considered one of the foundational texts of the critical pedagogy movement, and was the third most cited book in the social sciences as of 2016 according to Google Scholar.
2. Olavo de Carvalho (1947 - 2022)
With an HPI of 55.37, Olavo de Carvalho is the 2nd most famous Brazilian Philosopher. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.
Olavo Luiz Pimentel de Carvalho (Brazilian Portuguese: [oˈlavu luˈis pimẽˈtɛw dʒi kaʁˈvaʎu]; 29 April 1947 – 24 January 2022) was a Brazilian polemicist, self-proclaimed philosopher, political pundit, former astrologer, journalist, and far-right conspiracy theorist. From 2005 until his death, he lived near Richmond, Virginia, in the United States. While publishing about politics, literature and philosophy since the 1980s, he made himself known to wider Brazilian audiences from the 1990s onwards, mainly writing columns for some of Brazil's major media outlets, such as the newspaper O Globo. In the 2000s, he began to use personal blogs and social media to convey his conservative and anti-communist ideas. In the late 2010s, he rose to prominence in the Brazilian public debate, being dubbed the "intellectual father of the new right" and the ideologue of Jair Bolsonaro, a label which he rejected. As a polemicist, Carvalho was criticized for often using obscene ad hominem attacks. His books and articles spread conspiracy theories and false information, and he was accused of fomenting hate speech and anti-intellectualism. He positioned himself as a critic of modernity. His interests included historical philosophy, the history of revolutionary movements, the Traditionalist School and comparative religion. His views were rejected by some philosophers. He died in 2022 several days after reportedly testing positive for COVID-19.
3. Vicente Ferreira da Silva (1916 - 1963)
With an HPI of 44.49, Vicente Ferreira da Silva is the 3rd most famous Brazilian Philosopher. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Vicente Ferreira da Silva (10 January 1916 – 19 July 1963) was a Brazilian logician, mathematician, and philosopher. He was one of first men in Brazil history to write and have published academic books on Logic and Phenomenology.
Pantheon has 3 people classified as philosophers born between 1916 and 1947. Of these 3, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased philosophers include Paulo Freire, Olavo de Carvalho, and Vicente Ferreira da Silva. As of April 2022, 1 new philosophers have been added to Pantheon including Olavo de Carvalho.
Deceased Philosophers
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Paulo Freire
1921 - 1997
HPI: 68.16
Olavo de Carvalho
1947 - 2022
HPI: 55.37
Vicente Ferreira da Silva
1916 - 1963
HPI: 44.49
Newly Added Philosophers (2022)
Go to all RankingsWhich Philosophers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Philosophers since 1700.
