Rethinking the foundations of politics: conflict, the State, and democracy

In the second session of the EPLab Permanent Seminar, Patrícia Mendonça Lazarević will talk about “Rethinking the foundations of politics: conflict, the State, and democracy”. The session will take place on 11 November at 14:30 in room A209 of NOVA FCSH (Berna Campus). The session will be held in Portuguese.

Abstract

The presentation starts from the premise that conflict is constitutive of human reality and inseparable from political experience. Far from being merely a social dysfunction, conflict is at the origin of concepts such as justice, freedom, and law. Drawing on the perspectives of Arendt and Schmitt, it offers a critical reflection on how these foundations intertwine and come into tension in the construction of political order. The presentation includes a philosophical reading of conflict — from Heraclitus and Hegel to Simmel and Galtung — and an analysis of its role in the relationship between human nature and the state, with references to Plato and Hobbes.

More information on the EPLab Permanent Seminar here.