Tarcísio Padilha

Tarcísio Meirelles Padilha is a Brazilian philosopher and former chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. He was born in Rio de Janeiro on April 17, 1928, the son of Raymundo Delmiriano Padilha and D. Mayard Meirelles Padilha. In 1951, he married Ruth Maria Fortuna Padilha, and the couple has six children.

Padilha did his schooling at the Grupo Escolar D. Pedro II in Petrópolis, the Colégio Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora in Campinas and the Colégio Santo Inácio. He obtained a BA in Philosophy and Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. He also studied at the Escola Superior de Guerra and the Universidade Federal Fluminense. He obtained his PhD in Philosophy from the State University of Rio de Janeiro. He has taught Philosophy at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (where he served as head of department), the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, the Universidade Santa Úrsula, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and the Universidade Gama Filho. He is a member of the permanent administrative body of the Escola Superior de Guerra.

He is the fifth occupant of Chair 2 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, to which he was elected on March 20, 1997, in succession to Mário Palmério. He was received on June 13, 1997 by academic Arnaldo Niskier. He in turn received the academics Ana Maria Machado, Luiz Paulo Horta and Marco Lucchesi. He chaired the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 2000 and 2001.