The University of Barcelona vindicates philosophy with a new Barcelona Pensa marathon
PRESS RELEASE
- The festival, a pioneering initiative in bringing thought to the streets, will take place on 20 and 21 November.
The Barcelona Pensa festival, a leading initiative in the dissemination of philosophy in society, returns in marathon format on 20 and 21 November. It follows the same successful formula that has made it an unmissable event for reflection and thought in the city. It comes with a renewed management team, headed by professors from the University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Philosophy Antonio Gómez Villar and Sergi Oms, and the professor Carlota Serrahima.
The Barcelona Pensa festival, a leading initiative in the dissemination of philosophy in society, returns in marathon format on 20 and 21 November. It follows the same successful formula that has made it an unmissable event for reflection and thought in the city. It comes with a renewed management team, headed by professors from the University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Philosophy Antonio Gómez Villar and Sergi Oms, and the professor Carlota Serrahima.
The festival was born in 2014 at the UB’s Faculty of Philosophy as the first festival in Spain in this field of knowledge. One of the co-directors, Sergi Oms, confirms that the raison d’être of the initiative has not changed: “Barcelona Pensa wanted to take philosophical reflection to the streets, going beyond the walls of the academy. We want to continue to stimulate reflection and thought in a world marked by constant change and the emergence of new challenges such as artificial intelligence”. On the other hand, Antonio Gómez Villar affirms that “the festival aims to innovate with formats: philosophy is not only developed around written texts and oral practice”.
The programme of this eleventh edition, marked by the third centenary of Immanuel Kant’s birth, includes philosophical guides, conferences, exhibitions, book presentations, round tables, theatrical performances and other activities aimed at children and teenagers. The agenda opens on 20 November, at 10.00 a.m., with the Research Fair of the Faculty of Philosophy. Other highlights of this day are the central conference of the festival, which revolves around Kant and will be given by Salvi Turró, professor of Philosophy at the UB, or the talk “Filosofia i ciència: hi ha proves científiques de l’existència de Déu?” (Philosophy and science: is there scientific evidence of the existence of God?), by José Díez.
On 21 November, the traditional activity “Girls and boys think” will be held, a dialogue session between pupils from different schools in Catalonia to talk and think about friendship. Also scheduled is the talk “Com pensa (si es que pensa) ChatGPT?” (How does ChatGPT think (if at all)?), given by Manolo Martínez, professor of Philosophy at the UB, and the performance La Model, ecologia sonora de la por, by the artists Adriano Galante and Adrián Vega, as well as Manuel Delgado, professor of Anthropology at the UB. The closing ceremony will take place at 10.00 p.m. at Nau Bostik.
Barcelona Pensa is supported by the UB’s Office of the Vice-Rector for Culture, Memory and Heritage, Barcelona City Council’s Institute of Culture and Barcelona Provincial Council.
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