Praxis Reading Groups 2024/25

Filosofia Animal (9º Ciclo): A Besta e o Soberano (Vol. 1), de Jacques Derrida

Organized by Dirk Michael Hennrich and Luanda Francine Garcia da Costa

Derrida dedicou os últimos anos do seu ensino (2001-2003) ao pensamento sobre a vida animal e a soberania política na tradição intelectual ocidental. Para ele, a besta e o soberano representavam duas figuras opostas à esfera pública humana, ambas situadas fora da lei e excluídas da política: a besta, que não conhece a lei, e o soberano, por ter o poder de a revogar. O seu propósito é evidenciar como essa oposição revela o autoconceito da humanidade ocidental, onde reis e deuses pairam acima da lei, enquanto os animais rastejam abaixo dela.

Hegel’s Science of Logic – The Doctrine of Being (Book One)

Organized by Silvia Locatelli

The Science of Logic is probably one of the fundamental texts for understanding Hegelian thought. Indeed, the Logic represents the first sphere of the Hegelian encyclopedic system, and without it it would not be possible to grasp the structure of the Philosophy of Nature and the Philosophy of Spirit. In this reading group we therefore propose a detailed reading of the first book of the Science of Logic, the Doctrine of Being. Following this first phase, the reading group plans two more cycles to analyze the Doctrine of Essence and the Doctrine of Concept.

Mute Compulsion: A Marxist Theory of the Economic Power of Capital

Organized by Mariana Teixeira and Juana Polo López

Søren Mau’s Mute Compulsion: A Marxist Theory of the Economic Power of Capital (2023) offers a compelling entry point for examining the exercise of power in our contemporary post-industrial world, moving beyond traditional frameworks of violence and ideology. Bringing together philosophical, economic, historical, and sociological perspectives, the book enriches both the reading experience and the discussions that follow.

Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit – 2nd Cycle

Organized by Mariana Teixeira and Silvia Locatelli

Through the collective reading of the integral text of the Phenomenology, we will attempt in this Reading Group to understand how action and knowledge develop in the course of the search for truth: of oneself and of the world, and in relation with otherness. We will follow the journey of consciousness through the many figures it encounters – including, for instance, the much-discussed figures of the master-slave dialectics, the struggle for recognition, the unhappy consciousness, Antigone, and the beautiful soul – in order to grasp the role of experience in the consciousness’s path towards absolute knowing and to unveil the book’s critical potential.