Marilena Chaui, a Political Philosopher and Intellectual Participant Facing the Crisis of Neoliberal Totalitarianism

Abstract

This article will take a look at the intellectual biography and work of the Brazilian philosopher Marilena Chaui, focusing on the political philosophy that she has been constructing throughout the development of her thought, which has occurred in concomitance with her praxis as a "participating intellectual". We will begin with a brief review of his academic training in the context of the dictatorship and his preoccupation with political conflicts in Brazil, in order to situate the discussion in his reading of Spinoza's philosophy and his critique of theology and superstition, relating it to his reflection on the problem of "voluntary servitude" in Laboetie, as articulating axes of his thought. It will end with a characterisation of his critique of the ideology of neo-liberal despotism from the theoretical matrix presented above.