Identity, Difference, and Contradiction: Iberian Perspectives on Hegel

20-21 April 2026

School of Arts and Humanities

University of Lisbon

 

Identity, difference, and contradiction are themes explicitly developed by Hegel in the Doctrine of Essence, yet they prove essential for a deeper understanding of his philosophical system as a whole. Across the Science of Logic, the Philosophy of Nature, and the Philosophy of Spirit, these categories illuminate the dynamic and dialectical articulation of thought, science, life, and anthropological, political, and philosophical structures. They operate not only within the system as such, but also within Hegel’s thought taken as a whole – for instance, in the path that leads to Absolute Knowing in the Phenomenology of Spirit.

This workshop aims to investigate the complexity of these elements of Hegel’s thought, which in many respects constitute its very core and continue to play a central role in contemporary debates on Hegel. By bringing together different perspectives and interpretative approaches, the workshop seeks to foster dialogue on how identity, difference, and contradiction can illuminate both the internal coherence of Hegel’s philosophy and its enduring relevance.

By foregrounding Iberian perspectives, the workshop also seeks to strengthen intellectual exchange and build enduring bridges between Spanish and Portuguese scholarship in Hegel studies.

 

Invited speakers: Bernardo Ferro (Universidade de Coimbra), Berta Pérez (Universitat de València), Diogo Ferrer (Universidade de Coimbra), Edgar Maraguat (Universitat de València), Edmundo Balsemão-Pires (Universidade de Coimbra), Giovanni Zanotti (Universidade de Coimbra/University of Bologna), Iñigo Baca (Universitat de València), Mariana Teixeira (Universidade de Lisboa), Rafael Aragüés (Comillas Pontifical University, Madrid), Silvia Locatelli (Universidade de Lisboa), Tatiana Llaguno (Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona).

 

Preliminary program

The event will take place in Room B112.D (School of Arts and Humanities, Library Building)

 

Monday, 20 April	Tuesday, 21 April
Room B112.D	Room B112.D
11.00 – 11.10: welcome coffee	11.00 – 11.20: welcome coffee
11.10 – 11.20 – Silvia Locatelli, Mariana Teixeira Welcome address   11.20 – 12.05 – Berta Pérez The Impossible Loop of Habit . . 12.10 – 13.00 – Edmundo Balsemão-Pires Three kinds of mediation: Hegel’s Vermittlung, the transcendental constitution of Lebenswelt, and systemic re-entry  . Chair: Gil Peixoto	11.20 – 12.05 – Edgar Maraguat The Dialectical Turn in Hegel Scholarship: Rationale and Prospects . 12.10 – 13.00 – Silvia Locatelli Title: TBA   Chair: Zach Tailor
13.00 – 14.30: lunch break	13.00 – 14.30: lunch break
14.30 – 15.15 – Tatiana Llaguno Title: TBA . 15.20 – 16.05 – Giovanni Zanotti The Philosophical Discourse of Collapsing Modernity: Thinking after Hegel in Paulo Arantes’s Account . Chair: Kaan Gündeş	14.30 – 15.15 – Rafael Aragüés Hegel’s Dialectic and Its Critics . 15.20 – 16.05 – Mariana Teixeira The Logic in the Struggle: On the Identity of Identity and Difference in the Phenomenology of Spirit . Chair: Guilherme Maschke
coffee break	coffee break
16.20 – 17.05 – Iñigo Baca On the Realization of Contradictions . 17.10 – 17.55 – Bernardo Ferro Title: TBA . Chair: Silvia Locatelli	16.20 – 17.05 – Diogo Ferrer “Eigenes Bestehen”: A Subsistência do Negativo . 17.10 – 17.30 – Silvia Locatelli, Mariana Teixeira Closing words . Chair: Antonio Oraldi
19.00 – Conference dinner

Organization: Silvia Locatelli and Mariana Teixeira (Praxis-CFUL)

 

This event is funded by Portuguese national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the project UID/00310/2025, Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa (DOI: 10.54499/UID/00310/2025).