About Me
My name is Italo Alves, and I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. I hold a PhD in Philosophy from Loyola University Chicago, as well as degrees in Law and Political Philosophy (for details, see my CV).
My areas of interest are Social and Political Theory and Aesthetics, especially where both intersect. My dissertation, The Social Aesthetics of Recognition, argues that expressive modes of social action can raise normative claims for recognition. I have written on social and political philosophy and critical theory. My work has been supported by the Newcombe Foundation, the DAAD, Mitacs, Canada’s Global Affairs, and Brazil’s CNPq, among others.
I am a member of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP) and the American Philosophical Association (APA). I have held visiting research and study positions at Concordia University of Edmonton, Carleton University, Université de Montréal, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, and the Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin.
I studied Art History for about two years. In addition to Brazil, I have also lived in Canada, Germany, and the US. I have a Warburgian interest in the relations between high and popular culture in everyday life, and I have written a few articles on this topic (they can be found on my blog). I am the co-editor of Revista Porto Alegre, an online cultural review that publishes book reviews, interviews, and articles on arts and humanities. I like to swim.
News
Currently…
Here is a list of things I am currently reading and listening to.
Recent Publications
In Dandyism (in Political Concepts) I make the case for the inclusion of “dandyism” in the political vocabulary, arguing that the concept helps show how political claims can be expressed even in the absence of explicit articulation.
In Practice-Based Immanent Critique: A Model of Critical Theory (in ethic@, in Portuguese) I argue that looking at social practices (as opposed to how they’re interpreted) is a productive way of doing reconstructive critical theory.
Conferences
I will be at the 2026 Meeting of the Brazilian Philosophical Association (ANPOF) in Florianópolis, from Nov 17–20. I will give a talk on Carl Schmitt and Walter Benjamin, where I argue that they both share pretty much the same critique of “aestheticization”, and that this is a rather problematic critique.
I have recently presented at I Conferência Internacional Dialéticas at UCS, in Caxias do Sul, which took place on October 7–9, 2026. My work discussed some issues with Christoph Menke’s Theory of Liberation.
Contact
ialves[at]luc.edu
