Alexandra Dias Fortes

Alexandra Dias Fortes is a full member of the Nova Institute of Philosophy (IFILNOVA) and holds a PhD in Philosophy – Aesthetics (2016) from the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (NOVA FCSH).

After earning her degree in Philosophy in 2005 (Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto), she taught “Introduction to Philosophy” in several High Schools in the Lisbon area (2005-2010). She then enrolled in the doctoral studies program at NOVA FCSH and received a PhD scholarship from FCT (SFRH/BD/81290/2011) to write a thesis on Wittgenstein’s thought: The importance of aesthetics for Wittgenstein (Philosophy, method and style). With an abiding interest in Wittgenstein, she also researches questions, authors, and concepts that are connected with and are integral for her investigations as part of the working group “Art, Critique and Aesthetic Experience" – CultureLab (Culture and Value Laboratory) – IFILNOVA – NOVA FCSH, and as a team member of the FCT funded Project “Fragmentation and Reconfiguration: Experiencing the city between art and philosophy”

The field – and the idea – of religious naturalism is other of her subjects of study, arising from a long-standing curiosity in finding out what Wittgenstein meant when he talked about “a religious point of view”, and due to her being a team member of the FCT funded Project “Epistemology of Religious Belief: Wittgenstein, Grammar and the Contemporary World”.

Yet, her main areas of research and interest are: aesthetics, philosophy of language and philosophical methodologies, conceptual vs. empirical questions, especially in Wittgenstein – criss-crossing with urban aesthetics, Aldo Rossi and Adolf Loos.

She has presented and discussed her work at the annual International Wittgenstein Symposia in Kirchberg, Austria, since 2012, at Birkbeck College, London, at the Nordic Wittgenstein Society Conference in Odense, Denmark, and in Lisbon at IFILNOVA, where she also co-organized two conferences/graduate workshops dedicated to Wittgenstein, aesthetics, culture and values.