PROGRAMM

Throughout the history of humanity, love has appeared in some form or another, woven into the fabric of culture and thought. But what is love there to express? Do we become freer through the practice of love? And why and how does it become a powerful vehicle for individual and social transformation? Italian philosopher FEDERICA GREGORATTO discusses different scenes in the long Western philosophical tradition of thinking about love—from Plato to Hegel, from the Frankfurt School to Simone de Beauvoir and Audre Lorde—and offers an original and insightful conceptualization of the role that eros plays in the power struggles of contemporary society.

 

The lecture will be followed by a conversation with Vienna Humanities Festival co-founder DESSY GAVRILOVA.

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FEDERICA GREGORATTO is a philosopher and author. Currently a professor of practical philosophy at the University of Lucerne, she previously taught philosophy at Freie Universität Berlin and the University of St. Gallen. Her research interests lie in social philosophy, feminist philosophy, critical theory, the philosophy of love, pragmatism, and psychoanalysis. She has written a book on Jürgen Habermas. Her latest book, Love Troubles: A Philosophy of Eros, was published by Columbia University Press in 2025.