The theme of the Vienna Humanities Festival 2025 is “On Edge/Unbehagen.” Life-changing technological innovation is advancing at an often unpredictable pace. Liberalism is under sustained attack, as is faith in basic scientific principles. Compassion is increasingly displaced by brutal transactional values. Can humanity remain human under such strenuous circumstances? This year's Humanities Festival will contribute to the discussion of these impediments and the questions they give rise to, by inviting the public to reflect with intellectuals, scientists, writers, and artists.
The second keynote lecture will be held by Federica Gregoratto on Love Troubles and how they drive transformation.
Throughout the history of humanity, love has been 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 Frederica 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.
Frederica 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, (Columbia University Press) came out in 2025.
The lecture will be followed by a conversation with Vienna Humanities Festival co-founder Dessy Gavrilova.
