Miguel Beistegui
Humanities

I am a philosopher with a broad range of interests, for whom philosophy involves a sustained, critical engagement with other fields and disciplines, but also with its own present. I was trained in phenomenology, and continue to value the rigour of this school of thought. But my conception and practice of philosophy of the last ten years can be defined as broadly critical, where critique means the critique of ourselves—our ways of thinking, understanding who we are, governing ourselves and others—with a view to living more independent, empowered, and lucid lives. My most recent research has focused on desire as a process of subjectivation and emancipation; on the harmful forces, such as stupidity and spite, which diminish our ability to think, and therefore our agency; on crisis as a new and permanent way of life.