The Coffee Break section of IPM Monthly is an open space to delve into cultural and artistic creativity. Like any coffee breaks, it is a space of fruition and re-creation from which you can get inspirational insights about something unexpected.
By Ana Maria Machado
Throughout all ages, humankind has celebrated festivals, often with a deeply religious character; the worship of the gods lay at the heart of all festive expressions. In the soul of the people, traces of ancient pagan beliefs still endure, keeping these old traditions alive for future generations. The Feast of the Goat and the Canhoto is one of Portugal’s oldest traditions, comparable in many ways to Halloween.
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By Eduarda Machado
For metaphysicians who share the fascination with the search for a deeper understanding of matter, and maybe of prime matter, Kengo Kuma: Onomatopoeia in Portugal offers an opportunity to delve into the subject through Kuma’s unique and unusually brilliant perspective. No doubt this exhibition exudes the sensibility and elegance of the author’s spirit. This approach is the result of a deep philosophical quest to understand the essence of materiality, where Kuma advocates for an architecture that finds its soul in humble materials and its purpose in contextual harmony.
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By Francisco Iversen
Summer 2025 – The fact that the humanities are struggling all over the world to establish themselves as a crucial area of study and development is nothing new. Late capitalism is reluctant to invest in areas that don’t offer immediate profit or a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Moreover, most universities are reducing the scope of philosophy and medieval studies in order to make room for programming and other subjects that are considered more important for graduates’ career prospects. The following is an example of what is happening in a specific country where libertarian policies are hurting the humanities and medieval studies.
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By Isabel Inzunza Gomez
June 2025 – Let’s say you could upload Avicenna’s Metaphysics of the Healing into a machine. I mean all of it—his conception of metaphysics as the first and universal science, the discipline that grounds not just theology, but also physics, psychology, and even prophecy. Imagine the machine internalizing his ontology of being qua being, where existence is either necessary in itself or possible by virtue of another.
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By Celeste Pedro
May 2025 – It was a day like many others. Until all the lights went off. In a single stroke, 60 million people were paralysed. Absolutely dependent on electric power, the Portuguese and the Spanish assessed the gravity of the situation as minutes went by. ‘My neighbour’s lights are out too; that happens. Wait, no internet either?’ In the next very few minutes, some of us managed to make phone calls, only to realise it was massive, and lose all forms of contact for the following 12 hours.
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By Alexander Lamprakis
April 2025 – It’s not every day you get a Whatsapp text about a medieval saint’s skull coming to town. But there it was—pinging into my phone: “Skull of Italian saint Thomas Aquinas comes to Utrecht in April.” Although I have studied Thomas as a philosopher, I must confess that I had never thought of him being actively venerated as a saint. So I was all the more surprised to see his skull go on a world tour on the scale of a rock band, including accompanying newspaper articles and paparazzi shots of his skull in the passenger seat of a Jeep.
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By Grégory Clesse
Mars 2025 – Après un long séjour à Bruxelles, Mohamed Bennani est revenu à Tunis avec un rêve : avoir une librairie. Son rêve s’est réalisé, et même au-delà : il travaille dans la reliure et possède une bibliothèque complète de livres d’occasion, qui offrent un riche témoignage de l’histoire tunisienne.
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By Isabel Inzunza Gomez
February 2025 – Madrid is a home away from home. At least that’s what I tell myself every time I land in Barajas and head straight for a café con leche that is, objectively, too expensive for what it is. But nostalgia does funny things to taste buds, and so, there I was, walking the streets of Madrid, feeling sentimental and vaguely hungry, when I stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant.
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By Nicola Polloni
January 2025 – MarieArt is a renowned artist from Messina, Sicily. I first met her by chance, and I was immediately captivated by the triumph of shapes, emotions, and colours emanating from her paintings. As the new year begins, already steeped in concerns and fears of an uncertain future, I can think of no better way to start it than by embarking on a journey of hope and creativity through a conversation with MarieArt. In this interview, MarieArt takes us through her artistic journey, emphasising her unique approach to blending tradition, experimentation, and contemporary themes. She reflects on the transformative role of art in society, explaining how her works – infused with unconventional materials like salt, sugar, and stucco – carry crucial symbolic messages of hope and renewal. Her deep connection to Sicilian culture, with its vibrant colours, myths, and traditions, serves as a constant source of inspiration, anchoring her creative expression.
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By Maria Pinho and Eduarda S. Machado
December 2024 – Since there are no festivities without a good dose of sugar, we introduce you to a very Portuguese philosophical concept: doçaria conventual. Doçaria conventual represents a rich and distinctive aspect of Portugal’s culinary heritage, steeped in history, religious symbolism, and regional variety. The origins of these traditional sweets can be traced back to the medieval period, primarily within the walls of monasteries and convents. The nuns and monks, often skilled in the art of confectionery, developed a variety of sweets using ingredients such as sugar, eggs, almonds, honey, and cinnamon – items that were both locally available and influenced by Portugal’s extensive trade networks during its imperial era.
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By Guido Alt
November 2024 – The Guinness World Records is known for trivia such as the world’s smallest drum and the heaviest whale on record. But this week something quite interesting happened for philosophy, or rather for the history of reading philosophy.
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By Sarah Virgi
September 2024 – As autumn arrives, bringing its quiet melancholy and contemplative light, we delve into Fernando Pessoa’s meditations on the transient nature of existence. Join us in this philosophical journey through the soft decay of dreams and ambitions, and the beauty of autumn’s inevitable decline. Read the English translation below.
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By Celeste Pedro
Summer 2024 – Summer break is here, and we’ll either be on vacation or enjoying the perks of an empty faculty. Whatever your situation, why not add some cocktails to it? Robin Small (2016) says, “cocktails and philosophy have some strong affinities”. So I searched and learned there’s a cocktail called “The Philosopher”. Not only that, there are a few versions of it: there’s the gin and the cognac one, there’s the more tropical “Philosopher Abroad” and the “Armchair Philosopher”. No excuses there, right?
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By ChatGPT
June 2024 – As summer approaches rapidly and the editorial team is busy meeting the last deadlines before a well-deserved break, we have invited a new collaborator of ours, a notable content creator, to share some of their latest poems with us. The collaborator promptly responded to our request. We are delighted to feature the latest production of the esteemed ChatGPT, renowned poet and intellectual whose skills have enraged many artists and scholars (possibly because they are jealous: what else could it be?). This collection has been tailored for medieval scholars and delves into the daily struggles faced by researchers and doctoral students. The centerpiece is the evocative “Wisdom Against the Beast,” narrating the tragic encounter of Thomas Aquinas and other medieval philosophers with an entity of profound ontological implications: Godzilla.
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By Mário Correia
April 2024 – Is it possible to bring the Middle Ages down from its ivory tower of experts? Glosa Ordinária, a “serious podcast with (more or less) serious people about serious matters”, presents itself from the opening to the end of its episodes as a platform to bring the Middle Ages closer to us, without oversimplification, both inside and outside the academic environment.
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By Eduarda Machado and Mário Correia
March 2024 – Have you ever wondered what Easter has to do with eggs? What about bunnies (in fact, hares)? In search of an answer, we delved into a variety of, not only Easter traditions but also traditions concerning eggs, which we’ll share below. Eggs are one of the most popular representations of Easter, with a worldwide following. Despite their common aspects and meanings, the diversity of their decorations is fascinating. The tradition of egg dyeing is an ancient practice that dates back to before the birth and death of Christ, as well as many ceremonial, symbolic and imagistic elements that have accompanied the evolution of ideas and religion, consequently being adopted and renewed.
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By Eduarda Machado
February 2024 – Every dystopian promise made by the cinematic oracle is slowly being fulfilled; decade after decade, we’re witnessing gradual change. This time, we may be seeing the greatest revolution in human productivity in front of us, but also the greatest revolution in the structure of human activity and inter-relationships. The Apple Vision Pro glasses launch has revived all the concerns worthy of a cinema screen related to ER, VR, and AR (extended, virtual, and augmented reality).
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By Nicola Polloni
January 2024 – The old saying “of taste, there is no disputing” works with food as well as movies (and TV series, think of The Rings of Power). Historical movies and biographies rank among the most divisive genres in contemporary cinematography. Naturally, biographical movies can focus on a vast array of historical figures, and seldom have producers been so daring as to center their attention on the lives of philosophers. Indeed, philosophers rarely have adventurous lives, with a few exceptions aside (such as Plato, Boethius, Marx, and a few others). Even fewer are those whose stories tell of a drama that may be relatable to 21st-century audiences. In general, laypeople often picture the lives of philosophers as serene, filled with contemplation, seldom crossed by the events of the outside world. Few figures in the history of philosophy defy this idea more than the greatest of all Chinese philosophers – sorry, Laozi! – and one of the most influential thinkers in human history: Kong Zi (孔子), that is, Confucius. The dramatic story of his life is told in a poetic fashion in the movie Confucius (孔子), directed by Hu Mei (胡玫). Released in 2010, it features Chow Yun-fat (周润发) as Confucius.
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By Maria Luís Pinho
November 2023 – This month, our Coffee Break section is dedicated to a fascinating theme, mystical experience and writing. Hadewijch was a flemish beguine of the 13th century who wrote, among other genres, mystical poetry. This poetry is itself a key to the spiritual process, being both an extension and catalyst of the Mystical Union with God.
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By Nicola Polloni
October 2023 – Something quite unique has has just made its debut on YouTube, and it’s unlike anything we have seen before. It is a special kind of movie, a bold endeavour where the entire dialogue is in Ancient Greek! The outcome is nothing short of spectacular and offers an experience that is both intellectually stimulating and visually captivating. This is why Frogs is truly unique. Taking inspiration from the comedic genius of Aristophanes and his famous work “The Frogs”, this movie is not merely a tribute to the classical world but a cultural bridge, connecting the modern audience with the wisdom and humour of ancient times and brings the ancient world into the present.
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By Aleksandar Anđelović
September 2023 – While reading an amazing article by Barbara Crostini on the theft of the Holy Cross from a Byzantine village of Sykeon in the eleventh century, the exotic name of the village spurred my interest in this place and I wanted to check if there are any remains of this village in Türkiye today. I realized that, apart from being known for Theodore, a seventh-century ascetic and afterwards a saint whose Vita was well known in subsequent centuries in Byzantium, next to nothing is known about this place, despite its importance as the crossroads for merchants and armies in as early as Roman times. Further surfing brought me to another fascinating 20-year-old article, by David Barchard, that deals with this place and provides some more information on its alleged location.
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By Eduarda Machado
June 2023 – This month the Coffee Break section invites everyone to explore the vast world of urban painting. We interview Mariana PTKS – pseudonym Mariana Patacas – an urban and visual artist from Porto, Portugal. She started painting while still at school. She experimented with materials and techniques and discovered the possibilities of the dimension of mural art. Mariana lives and expresses the deep questions of philosophy and science through art, colour and form. Her path of inspiration is made by moments of contemplation of nature, the internal and the external, if it is possible a distinction in her artistic-conceptual conception. Her artistic activity gravitates around themes such as cosmos and its origin as well as its infinite possibilities, the composition is mostly constituted by vibrant colour palettes and harmonious shapes. Her work presents both internal coherence and an exponential expressive evolution, from realistic representations of satellite images of the cosmos on unconventional canvases, to the minimalism of geometric form that gives space to the expression of the vibrancy of colour, revealing dreamlike and intense landscapes. In his works he is also aware of the social, political and environmental impact and how he can take advantage of this to contribute to a better society.
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Por Francisco Iversen
Mayo 2023 – En su análisis de la cultura griega y, especialmente, de la obra de Alcidamente de Elea, Luis Ángel Castello –gran profesor de griego en la Universidad de Buenos Aires y Universidad de San Martín, entre otros, muy bien recordado por todos sus exalumnos– problematizaba la tensión entre oralidad y escritura en la Grecia Antigua. Dicha tensión no puede pasar desapercibida a la mayoría de nuestros lectores que, aunque en el ejercicio de sus tareas de investigación y docencia ponen en juego ambas habilidades, ven muchas veces priorizada a la escritura sobre la oralidad. Así, la presente entrevista intenta saldar esa deuda gracias a Azul Birenbaum, Locutora Nacional que ejerce en Argentina como conductora en radio y televisión, quien nos va a hablar del uso profesional de la palabra hablada.
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Por Francisco Iversen
Abril 2023 – Nuestros lectores de IPM Monthly estarán ya familiarizados con proposiciones que sostienen que el conocimiento comienza con los sentidos y que nada hay en el intelecto que no haya pasado antes por la facultad imaginativa. Aquellas parecen invitarnos a utilizar la captación estética (en el sentido griego de sensación, aísthesis) como un peldaño o un trampolín que nos acerca más y más a las verdades más profundas y a acercarnos a lo más cognoscible en sí. Esos últimos serían los objetos de estudio más alejados de nuestra sensibilidad y su acceso se daría paso a paso sin descartar ni saltar lo más cognoscible inmediatamente para nosotros, i.e. aquello que nos es inmediato a los sentidos. De algún modo, hay una sugerencia a explorar la sensibilidad y a adentrarnos en el arte, las ciencias y la naturaleza primero por los sentidos. No obstante, como siempre en filosofía, hay adversarios de la sensibilidad que sugieren tener cuidado al tratar con esta facultad que nos fomenta el ocio, el crimen y el pecado, nos aleja de lo más alto y abstracto.
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By Sarah Virgi
Marzo 2023 – Filosofia e teatro sono legati nella tradizione occidentale fin dall’antica Grecia. La commedia e la tragedia, in particolare, hanno sempre occupato un posto centrale nell’indagine e nell’analisi filosofica. Non solo, ma il teatro stesso è stato utilizzato come veicolo per trasmettere un’argomentazione filosofica sulla moralità. Questo mese esploriamo le intersezioni tra queste due discipline cruciali con Bianca Iannaccone. Filosofa e attrice, mette alla prova i limiti di questo rapporto dall’interno. In questa intervista, ci parla in particolare del suo punto di vista sull’opera del grande drammaturgo francese Molière e del modo unico in cui mostra una divertente e, al tempo stesso, amara critica filosofica dei valori morali del suo tempo, costruita attraverso un elaborato gioco teatrale argomentativo. Inoltre, spiega anche l’impatto che questa analisi filosofica ha avuto sulla sua pratica performativa come attrice.
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By Pawel Trzciakowski
February 2023 – Medieval philosophy is immensely indebted to the last philosopher of Antiquity, Boethius. Witnessing the ultimate eclipse of the ancient world, that intellectual giant devoted himself to the task of preserving the achievements of greco-roman culture. It is hard to overemphasise his influence on the teaching of logic and metaphysics in the following centuries, and these areas are naturally most interesting for philosophers today. However, Boethius’ interest was far from being limited to translating and commenting on Aristotle. He also wrote manuals of the arts quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music, which were widely used in medieval universities. Indeed, Boethius’ impact on the curriculum was so rich that the historian R. W. Southern nicknamed him “the schoolmaster of medieval Europe”.
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By Nicola Polloni
January 2023 – How are Averroes and al-Ghazali connected to Sponge cakes, Rice Krispies, and Snickerdoodles? In the cold lands of Wisconsin, when the freezing wind blows from the lake and reminds to everyone that autumn will soon become winter, a professor of philosophy has started a long-lasting tradition that has made life far sweeter for hundreds of students and professors of philosophy. IPM Monthly had to find out more about this. We contacted Richard Taylor, from Marquette University. In our interview, Richard expands on the list of students’ recipes that he has started to collect in 1986 and the reasons behind this fascinating tradition. He also gives some culinary advice and reflections on how to build rapport with the students when dealing with philosophy and its history.
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By Nicola Polloni
December 2022 – The Coffee Break of our December issue invites you to dive into a “different” representation of Tolkien’s universe. You have enjoyed Peter Jackson’s trilogy of The Lord of the Rings and you might have been puzzled by the later trilogy The Hobbit (as many of us did). Now that 2022 is coming to an end, you have probably survived countless discussions, controversies, debates, and fights about Amazon’s The Rings of Power. Perhaps, you think you want some rest from Tolkien and the manifold ways in which the universe he created can be represented on the screen, waiting to listen to some Kzoo panels on the topic in the spring of 2023.
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By Eduarda Machado and Mário Correia
October 2022 – Vicente Lusitano was a renowned composer and music theorist of the 16th century. He was born in Olivença, at the time a small Portuguese town. He benefited from musical training from an early age by private teachers who had a close connection with the bishopric and with the bishop himself. This fact led him to be recommended to D. Afonso de Lencastre, Portuguese ambassador to the Holy See, in Italy. In Rome he found recognition as a teacher, theorist, and musician, and was ordained a priest. He later converts to Protestantism and marries, emigrating to Germany, where he ends up in financial decline and without a residence permit, and where his trace disappears, probably at the hands of the Inquisition.
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Por Francisco Iversen
Septiembre 2022 – Casi no fue una serie sino una película, a lo que G. R. R. Martin se negó. Fue la primera serie transmitida en un IMAX, lo que sucedió en enero de 2015 cuando se proyectaron los dos últimos capítulos de la cuarta temporada durante una semana y se recaudaron millones. Superó al máximo de audiencia que HBO había logrado con Los soprano en 2002, cuando llegó en 2014 a un promedio de 18.6 millones de espectadores. Fue la serie más galardonada con premios Emmy, acumulando 38 en total de los cuales 12 los consiguió en la misma noche de 2015. Decayó a un nivel exponencial – desde mediados de 2016 con la salida de la temporada 6 hasta fines del 2019 con la finalización de la inmunda temporada 8 – al punto de que no se puede comprender como actores que trabajaron en ella defienden semejante insulto a la serie que vio la boda roja. Hablamos, obviamente, de GOT.
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By Eduarda Machado and Mário Correia
July 2022 – The month of June is marked by several popular festivals that celebrate the patrons of various places in Portugal. St. Anthony, St. John, St. Peter, are the saints who give name to the most prominent festivals of this time of the year. Every year, St. John the Baptist Day is celebrated on June 24th in various places on the planet. In Portugal, the tradition continues. However, St. John is not the patron saint of the city of Porto, its celebration is due to different reasons, which we will present later. Although June 24th is the official holiday of the celebration, it is on the night of the 23rd that this festival has its greatest expression, bringing together hundreds of thousands of people in Porto’s downtown. From the end of the afternoon, after work, those who walk through the streets and alleys of Porto feel the excitement of the party, either in the smell of brazier and the first grilled sardines in the street, or in the colourful decorations that fill the facades of the historical Porto.
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By Nicola Polloni
June 2022 – Every ten years, in the Flemish town of Dendermonde, Belgium, something unique takes place. The quiet town is suddenly invaded by thousands of people coming from all over Belgium and abroad (more than eighty thousand in 2022). Starting from the banks of the river Scheldt, a historical costume parade of hundreds of Dendermondenaars (the town residents) and actors slowly marches through the streets of Dendermonde, representing with costumes and chariots the long history of this town and the legend of the Ros Beiaard. The majestic parade is crowned and closed by the Ros Beiaard, from which the festival takes its name. A gigantic wooden horse is brought around by the pijnders, three groups of twelve people that in turns carry the huge beast around and simulate the moves of a real horse. On top of it, four kids ride the horse. They are four brothers (also in real life) that represent the heemskinderen – Renaud de Montauban and his three brothers from the legend of the Beiaard. A huge crowd cheers the passage of the Ros Beiaard singing an old Flemish song (’t Ros Beyaert doet zyn ronde, in de Stadt van Dendermonde, ….) while an ecstatic feeling permeates tourists and locals alike.
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By Nicola Polloni
May 2022 – Andrea Fagioli’s artistic production is marked by the artist’s constant dialogue with the flow of time. Playing with its oxymoronic presence and absence, attachment and detachment, time is the veiled protagonist of Fagioli’s pieces. As with an ancient deity, time manifests itself in its creative functions: it shapes destinies and thoughts, lives and deaths, feelings and convictions. While the notion of time has fascinated many artists, Fagioli’s unique artistic perspective depicts a different aspect of time’s agency in the universe. His glance is focused on time’s merciless reshaping of forms, its jovially brutal flowing that alters patterns, changes forms, and unveils what was supposed to stay hidden. It is like if time were amusing itself in this process of constant alteration of forms, shapes, and structures.
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