Courses
I have taught on most of the core philosophical topics, e.g., issues on metaphysics as well as those of political philosophy; themes from epistemology and philosophy of language up to those of ethics and aesthetics. I have also addressed all kinds of authors. This includes Ancient, Medieval and Modern Western philosophers as well as contemporary analytic and continental ones. This also includes Brazilian philosophers, the Bhagavad Gita, authors from the East, such as Xinzu etc. While teaching in Miami (USA), Minas Gerais (Brazil) and Berlin (Germany), I have also dialogued with all kinds of students from all sorts of backgrounds. I also taught in presence and (since the Covid-19 pandemic started) online. Here are some of the classes I taught:
At Code University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, Germany (2021-2022)
2021-2022
Science, Technology and Society Essentials
Can we define terms? If so, how? What are we to do and abstain from? Can we know? What is the relation between natural and social identity? Does the UN have the right to intervene in a country? If so, under what conditions? What is a political performative? What are we to do regarding global warming? Should software be free? Is the medium the message? Is it morally permissible to use violence to oppose gentrification? What is it like to be a bot? Is it morally permissible to use violence against people you love during a war? Is capitalism a religion? What is thinking? This class discuss these and several other disputes while addressing traditional as well as contemporary authors from the West and from the East. Readings include excerpts from: Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Mill, Descartes, Hilary Putnam, Xinzu, Judith Butler, Clara Eroukhmanoff, Ailton Krenak, Richard Stallman, Marshall McLuhan, Marx, John Searle, the Bhagavad Gita, Walter Benjamin and Hannah Arendt.
At Lavras Federal University in Minas Gerais, Brazil (2021)
2021
Reading and Production of Text in Philosophy I: Reading Workshop (in Portuguese)
Through weekly synchronic online meetings that later will be posted at Lavras Federal University's Virtual Campus, this class provides methods for reading and production of three kinds of philosophical texts that will be compared throughout the semester: philosophical texts of Brazilian, analytic and continental fashion.
2021
Ethics I (in Portuguese)
To be or not to be "subtly" philosophically colonized? Should we have sex only for reproduction? Is abortion morally permissible? Is it morally wrong to seek profit? Should the UN intervene in Brazil? Are there situations in which violence should be used? While dealing with these disputes, this class deals with some of the main topics of ethics through synchronic online meetings that later will be posted at Lavras Federal University's Virtual Campus.
At the University of Miami in Miami, USA (2015-2020)
2019, 2020
The history of metaphysics is a history of disputes regarding which no consensus has been reached. The aim of this class is to approach several of such disputes in giving an overview of the history of metaphysics as well as drawing all kinds of parallels between metaphysics and politics. The core questions raised in the class are: What is Donald Trump’s God? Is there a God of capitalism? What is justice? What is a Platonic form? Is there a Christian God? Does the Christian God sanction war? What kinds of sexual practices are sanctioned by the Christian God? Can skepticism be answered? Can I doubt that I exist? Is Descartes’s argument for God’s existence persuasive? Is God to be blamed for my errors? Do we have immaterial souls distinct from our material bodies? Should we believe in the Christian God for practical purposes? Is metaphysics to be committed to the flames? Are there miracles? Can metaphysics provide knowledge of things-in-themselves? Is metaphysics a legitimate epistemic inquiry vis-à-vis mathematics and the empirical sciences? If metaphysics is not a legitimate epistemic inquiry, what role can it play? Is the Christian God dead? Can there be a superman? Is Cristian metaphysics a disease? What is metaphysics? Do metaphysical statements make sense? Do entities have accidental and essential properties? Can metaphysics be politically neutral or is it always approached by means of a politically engaged view (e.g., a right-wing or a left-wing one)? How is one to react to fact that, since immemorial times, persons have been engaged in disputes in metaphysics?
2017, 2018, 2020
What is justice? Is justice better than injustice? What is a just political community (city)? What is a just man? What is there? What grounds what? How can we know what there is? How can we know what grounds what? How should we live? In which city should we live? In discussing these and other questions, this class gives an overview of Ancient Philosophy, up to Plato. The class has two sections. First, we will deal with Socrates’s opponents ––the ordinary Greek man; the pre-Socratics (mainly, Heraclitus and Parmenides); and the Sophists (mainly, Protagoras). Second, in spelling out Socrates’s responses to these opponents, we will approach Plato’s Republic. Throughout the class, contemporary digressions will be made. This will serve to connect the Greeks with contemporary matters, such as Trump’s worldview, terrorism, racism, feminism, pornography and depression.
2017, 2018
What are the requirements for a philosophy to be modern as opposed to pre-modern, or post-modern (if there is such a philosophy)? This class is driven by this question. We will start with a brief study of what has been considered a standard case of pre-modern philosophy: Aquinas’s. Then, we will approach the works of four philosophers who have been taken as standard cases of modern philosophers ––Descartes, Hume, Kant and Hegel. This will be the core of the class. The class ends with a brief study on what has been considered a standard case of post-modern philosophy: Nietzsche’s. Here are some other questions that will be considered in the class. Is there a God? If yes, how can we know that there is a God? Can we know anything whatsoever? If yes, how can we know? What do we know? Is there a soul? If yes, is the soul distinct from the body? How can mathematical knowledge and empirical knowledge be differentiated? Is causality grounded by habit? Are there miracles? Is metaphysics possible? What is transcendental idealism? What is the analytic / synthetic distinction? Can philosophy provide a-historical answers to any of the aforementioned questions? What is phenomenology? What is the absolute? Is God dead?
2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020
Contemporary moral issues are ongoing ethical and/or political disputes regarding which no consensus has been reached. Examples of such disputes are: What is a terrorist? Can there be a just war? What is a natural sexual practice? Is homosexuality unnatural? Should we believe in God for practical purposes? Should we use violence when opposing racism? Are Donald Trump’s policies warranted by God? Is there a God of capitalism? Is Trump a fascist? What is Bernie Sanders’ democratic socialism? Should we be allowed to genetically intervene in ourselves and in our kids? Is suicide a morally permissible action? Is it morally permissible for the state to kill a criminal? Should abortion be a crime and a humiliation? Do we live in a culture of political correctness? What is the right-wing/left-wing distinction? Is pornography to be banished? What is the difference between sexual harassment and sexual assault? Can there be a morally permissible school shooting? Is God dead? This class approaches all of these disputes by considering two kinds of writings: non-academic writings by deviants (e.g., Charles Manson), politicians (e.g., Donald Trump) and/or writers (e.g., Anaïs Nin); and writings by distinguished philosophers. The class has two sections. The first section addresses those who deal with contemporary moral issues by using the concept of “God”. The second section discusses those who approach contemporary moral issues without relying on this concept.
2015, 2016, 2018
Is there a God? If yes, how can we know God and should we act in accordance with God’s will? Should philosophers-king rule our state? Are there abstract objects, such as properties like Beauty? Can the question “Is there a god?” be answered? Is suicide morally right? What is the relation between our minds and bodies (or brains)? To be moral is to maximize utility? Is there a moral law? Can skepticism be answered? Do we know our minds better than anything else? Is empirical knowledge more certain than a priori knowledge? Is metaphysical knowledge possible? Are Christians sick? Does the nothing “nothings”? Are metaphysical statements meaningless? What is it like to see the color red? Is it is possible to know what is like to have children before actually having them? These are a few of the questions that will be discussed in this class. The approach developed will be historical. We will read ancient, medieval, modern as well as contemporary philosophers