On April 24 and 25, the Franca campus of UNESP hosted the 2nd Meeting of the Permanent Seminar on Critical Philosophy and Society. Originally conceived during the pandemic as an effort to create a space for intellectual exchange, the event brought together researchers from Brazil and across Latin America. With the theme “Critique and Subjectivity: Present Experiences to Imagine the Future,” the meeting emphasized in-depth discussions by dedicating each session to a single presentation—whether a work in progress or a recent publication.
The meeting featured prominent scholars such as Alessandro Pinzani, Ana Cláudia Lopes, Hélio Alexandre da Silva, Leonardo da Hora, Lina Álvarez Villarreal, Martin Arboleda, Paulo Bodziak, Vinícius Santos, and Yara Frateschi. The discussions fostered a rich exchange of ideas and critical approaches to contemporary issues.
This event followed the 1st Seminar Meeting held in 2022 at UFBA, which focused on the theme “Negative Social Experiences.” That initial event brought together academics from various institutions, including UFSC, UFBA, Unifesp, Unesp, UFRN, and UnB, and laid the groundwork for subsequent gatherings, highlighting the importance of discussing the intersections of philosophy, critique, and society.
The related publication gathers diverse contributions that emphasize the need for an interdisciplinary approach to understanding negative social experiences, breaking the barriers between psychology focused on the individual and a sociological approach that highlights the dialectic between individuals and society.
The book’s editors are also the founders of the Permanent Seminar on Critical Philosophy and Society, which began virtually in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative, now materialized in the form of the published volume, reflects the collaboration of Hélio Alexandre da Silva (São Paulo State University – UNESP), Paulo Bodziak (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte – UFRN), and Leonardo da Hora and Vinícius dos Santos (Federal University of Bahia – UFBA).
Negative Social Experiences promises to be a valuable contribution to Philosophy and Social Sciences, offering new perspectives on the intersection of suffering, socialization, and social pathology.
Recordings of the event are available on the NEFITS YouTube channel.
