Introduction

Abstract

In a national culture of notable variety and depth, philosopher Marilena Chauf is one of Brazil’s most well-known and outspoken thinkers. A paulista, she was born and educated in São Paulo. She studied philosophy at the University of São Paulo where she has been teaching since 1967, the year she defended her master’s thesis. In a career spanning four decades, Chauí has published numerous books, articles, and essays, and she regularly contributes to the country’s press. Amongst her many books and essays, she has written on philosophers as well, such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty and most notably Baruch Spinoza; her study A nervura do real (The Nerve of Reality) was published in 2004, the culmination of thirty years of research on and engagement with the seventeenth-century Dutch Jewish philosopher.