A razão nômade: Walter Benjamin e outros viajantes

Abstract

What characterizes the positions taken by Sérgio Paulo Rouanet in the arena of theoretical and political discussions of Brazilian cultural life is his unshakable Enlightenment inspiration. He is always encouraged by the desire to contribute to the light of reason and knowledge dispelling the darkness of ignorance, prejudice and superstition. This does not mean, of course, that Rouanet is willing to relaunch today the ideas elaborated by the most advanced European thinkers of the 18th century; he knows that the world has changed, the arsenal of reason needs to be renewed, its lights are challenged to shine in another way. Rouanet has no commitment to any kind of overbearing, arrogant reason, installed in its castle, willing to dictatorially rule the world. His is - as he says himself - "nomadic reason": a restless reason. who travels, seeks to know other lands, dialogue with other peoples. A curious reason, which is never satisfied with what it knows. A reason that roams, with the flaneur, through our big cities, watching the spectacle of irrationalities [...]" By Leandro Konder, excerpt taken from the book's cover.