Academic Degrees

• 2014-2016: LL.M, Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Ceará, Brazil. Grant of CAPES. Average grade: 9,77 on a 10-point grading scale. Final thesis: Between philosophical hermeneutics and legal hermeneutics: from the productive character of the comprehension to a critique toward the intentionalist argument.
• 2009-2013: LL.B., Federal University of Ceará (UFC) “Universidade Federal do Ceará”. Brazil. Average grade: 9,0904 on a 10-point grading scale. Final thesis: Relations between International Law and Internal Law: from the classical dualist and monist theories to transconstitutionalism.

Current Positions

• PhD Student – PIs: Prof. Georg Bertram (FU) and Prof. Bertram Lomfeld (FU) – GRK 2638 „Normativität, Kritik und Wandel“ – Dahlem Research School – Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Universität der Künste Berlin, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
• Member of the International Language and Law Association
• Member of the British Wittgenstein Society
• Member of the Nordic Wittgenstein Society
• Member of the research groups LABFil-UFC and GENi-UECE
• Member of the Grupo de Trabalho Filosofia Hermenêutica ANPOF (Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia)
• Reviewer of the Journal “Revista Pensar - Revista de Ciência Jurídica” (Journal of Legal Sciences) - e-ISSN-2317-2150, evaluated in stratum A1 (top tier in Brazil) by the QUALIS/CAPES
• Reviewer of the Journal “Revista de Informação Legislativa” – e-ISSN-2596-0466, evaluated in stratum A2 (top tier in Brazil) by the QUALIS/CAPES
• Lawyer (OAB/CE nº 33.176)

Prior Academic Appointments in Brazil and Professional Experience

• 2016-2021: Lecturer of Legal Theory, Legal Hermeneutics, Theory of Constitution, and Constitutional Process at Centro Universitário Unichristus, Fortaleza/CE, Brazil
• 2017: Lecturer of Criminology and Legal Professions at Centro Universitário Unichristus;
• 2014-2016: Full LL.M. Researcher with CAPES Scholarship; Assistant in the Chair Constitutional Process
• 2014-2016: Lecturer in “Instituto Conceito” for legal professionals who wanted specific preparation for academic life and the written and oral selection required to course an LL.M at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Fortaleza/CE, Brazil;
• 2015: Director of “Ensino, Pesquisa e Extensão” (Teaching, Research and Extension) at the Centro Acadêmico Clóvis Beviláqua (institution which represents undergraduate and graduate students of the Federal University of Ceará and responsible for organizing academic events, such as the “Semana do Direito”, the most relevant regional legal event and one of the most relevant of Brazil);
• 2014: Lawyer (OAB/CE nº 33.176);
• 2008-2011: Bank Officer and Business Assistant.

Awards and Distinctions

• 2024: Methodology Masterclass at Oxford. Centre for Social-legal Studies (CSLS) selects annually 20 PhD students to take part in a two-day workshop at St. Catherine’s College about methodology. Org. by Prof. Linda Mulcahy and Prof. Marie Burton.
• 2022: Visiting Fellow. Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies – lucernaiuris. The Institute selects annually two junior scholars among (PhD students and postdocs) to undertake a stay of up to two months in Lucerne.
• 2019: Falling Walls Lab Fortaleza. One of the 16 finalists of a national selection, participating in a contest of breakthrough ideas, presented as a pitch within 3 minutes, to an audience of industry experts, decision makers, and scientists.
• 2013: 1st place in Public Selection to enter in the LL.M Program of the Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza/CE, Brazil.
• 2013: 2nd place in Public Selection to enter in the French course of the House of French Culture of the Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza/CE, Brazil.
• 2012: Top China Universities scholarship. One of the five selected students from every course of the whole Federal University of Ceará to attend a program about Environment, Sustainable Development, Urbanization, and Chinese Language and Culture at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The award is given by the Federal University of Ceará in partnership with Santander Bank.
• 2012: Hochschulwinterkurs scholarship. Awarded a course in Kassel, Germany, in order to get adequate German language skills to take a doctorate in Germany.
• 2011: Financial Professional Certification (CPA-10), a certificate given to the approved in the exam elaborated by the ANBIMA - Associação Brasileira das Entidades dos Mercados Financeiro e de Capitais (Brazilian Association of Financial and Capital Entities). Maximal score obtained.
• 2009: 1st place in Public Selection to enter in the German course of the House of German Culture of the Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza/CE, Brazil.
• 2008: 38th place in Public Selection to be an undergraduate student at the Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza/CE, Brazil.
• 2007: 24th place in Public Selection to be a bank officer of the public Brazilian Bank (Banco do Brasil).
• 2007: 1st place in the School Contest for Better Essay.

Languages

• Portuguese: native
• English: (TOEFL, 101)
• German: (Goethe Zertifikat C1)
• French: (CCF-UFC B2)
• Spanish: basic skills
• Latin: two-year certificated course
• Classical Greek and Koiné: introductory

• 2016-2021: Lecturer of Legal Theory, Legal Hermeneutics, Theory of Constitution, and Constitutional Process at Centro Universitário Unichristus, Fortaleza/CE, Brazil
• 2017: Lecturer of Criminology and Legal Professions at Centro Universitário Unichristus;
• 2014-2016: Full LL.M. Researcher with CAPES Scholarship; Assistant in the Chair Constitutional Process
• 2014-2016: Lecturer in “Instituto Conceito” for legal professionals who wanted specific preparation for academic life and the written and oral selection required to course an LL.M at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Fortaleza/CE, Brazil;

 

Undergraduate supervisions and evaluation of works

• A supervision has a duration of one whole year, except for those students who changed supervisors in the meantime.

1.       2020.2: 3 papers of Beginner Scientists

2.       2020.1: 2 final course monographs; 3 papers of Beginner Scientists and Assistant; a blog of an Assistant

3.       2019.1: 2 final course monographs; 5 papers of Beginner Scientists and an Assistant

4.       2018: 5 final course monographs; 1 paper of an Assistant

5.       2017: 1 final course monographs; 1 paper of an Assistant

6.       2016: 1 paper of an Assistant

Certainties and Deep Disagreements in Law: Towards a Hinge Legal Epistemology

Objective: by means of the “hinge epistemology”, investigate the epistemological conditions of agreement or disagreement over the basic certainties in the legal field. I assume that there is a “legal form of life”, based on some “hinges”, without which legal practice is untenable. I also assume that, in some cases, interpretive disputes are actually a result of deep disagreements, mainly in polarized societies, where colliding worldviews amounts to insoluble interpretative deadlocks, imposing eventually a solution outside legal reasoning. I want to address the epistemic status of these deep disagreements in legal discourse, especially in contexts of polarization. The relevance of this research is twofold. From the point of view of the applied epistemology, it consists of an advance of reflections about “hinge epistemology” on a specific social science, i.e., the legal science. From the point of view of the jurisprudence, it consists of a renewal in the legal epistemology, providing a new tool to work with, particularly in legal hermeneutics, where disagreements always posed insoluble problems.

Connection of the Research Project to the GRK's Agenda: My Research Project (RP) is essentially interdisciplinary. It lies on the intersection between Law and Philosophy. However, it is not just one more specialized research on a traditional topic of legal philosophy - though it does shed light on some well-known legal philosophical problems (e.g., the concept of law, the status of the Rechtsdogmatik, or the lack of right answers). Rather, as an epistemological work, it strategically addresses law as a field of investigation for a broader scope: to understand our worldviews, which are constituted by very basic rooted certainties (or "hinges", one of the late Wittgenstein's metaphors), and the problem of collision of worldviews ("deep disagreements"), which is, in the end, a collision of different certainties held by different people. This broader scope ends up being relevant for other areas interested in elucidating aspects concerning particular traditional patterns of thinking, normative behavior, and their changes (e.g., in artistic movements, scientific revolutions, religious conversions, constituent processes, etc.).

As to the token Normativität, besides addressing the legal praxis, the RP is linked with the Wittgensteinian account of rules, strictly related to the notions of games, forms of life and, finally, hinges. Connected with it is the token Wandel: the RP addresses the conditions of change in worldviews and its possible consequences, taking the "legal form oflife" as a privileged object of investigation. Underlying both Normativität and Wandel is the token Kritik: dealing with worldviews and possible collisions requires a critical approach; as I suggest in my RP, typical political deep disagreements have been contaminating the legal discourse (the paradigmatic case is the recent judicial activism of Brazilian higher and lower courts), and this conclusion requires engaged critical reflections. Thus, Normativität, Wandel and Kritik are dimensions that permeate the RP.

Fields of interest for research

1. Law: legal epistemology, legal hermeneutics, analytic legal theory, legal argumentation, constitutional law, procedural law, legal sociology;

2. Philosophy: linguistic philosophy; Wittgenstein (with a special interest in his hinge epistemology and theory of aspects and possible contributions to legal philosophy); Nietzsche (with a special interest in his approach on epistemology and perspectivism).

3. Hermeneutics: philosophical and legal hermeneutics; Gadamer’s contributions to legal interpretation and legal epistemology

A. Dissertation, Journal Articles, Book Chapters, Papers

• 2023. “A esfera pública digitalizada. Resenha de Habermas, J. Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit und die deliberative Politik” [The digitalized public sphere. Review of Habermas, J. Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit und die deliberative Politik]. Revista Brasileira de Sociologia do Direito, 10(2), 134-143. https://doi.org/10.21910/rbsd.v10i2.749 | Version in academia.edu
• 2021. “Quem nasce em Bacurau é o quê?”: do perspectivismo à autoafirmação em Bacurau. [“Who is born in Bacurau is what?”: from the perspectivism to the self-affirmation in Bacurau]. Revista Direito e Práxis, Rio de Janeiro, vol. 12, n. 4, 2021, p. 2954-2973. DOI: 10.1590/2179-8966/2021/62935| ISSN: 2179-8966 https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2021/62935 | Version in academia.edu
• 2020. “Método Jigsaw: colaboração e engajamento no ensino jurídico superior” (Jigsaw Method: Collaboration and Engagement in Law classes). Associação Brasileira de Ensino Jurídico. In “Educação Jurídica e Didática no Ensino do Direito: estudos em homenagem à Professora Cecilia Caballero Lois”. Orgs. Maria Vital da Rocha; Felipe dos Reis Barroso. ISBN 978-65-5035-012-3. Ebook|Version in academia.edu
• 2016. “Entre hermenêutica filosófica e hermenêutica jurídica: do caráter produtivo da compreensão a uma crítica ao argumento intencionalista.” (Between philosophical hermeneutics and legal hermeneutics: from the productive character of the comprehension to a critique toward the intentionalist argument). Master’s dissertation – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Faculdade de Direito, Programa de Pós- graduação em Direito, Fortaleza: 2016.
• 2015. “Estudo das fontes do Direito a partir da perspectiva sociológica de Eugen Ehrlich” [Investigation on the sources of law from Eugen Ehrlich’s sociological perspective]. In: Rocha, Maria Vital da (org.); Dias, Eliza Cristina Gonçalves (org.). Temas de Sociologia do Direito. Fortaleza: Bookmark, 2015. ISBN 978-85-98065-13-7.
• 2014. “Hermenêutica filosófica e sua contribuição para a jurisdição constitucional” [Philosophical Hermeneutics and its contribution to the constitutional jurisdiction]. In: Bustamante, Thomas (org.); Fernandes, Bernado Gonçalves (org.); Oliveira, Marcelo Andrade Cattoni de; Rezende, Élcio Nacur (org.). I Congresso Internacional de Direito Constitucional e Filosofia Política: O Futuro do Constitucionalismo: Perspectivas para a Democratização do Direito Constitucional, Belo Horizonte - MG: Initia VIA, 2014. p. 78-80.

 

B. Technical works and others

• 2024. “Notas ditadas a G.E.Moore na Noruega”. Revisor of translation: Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Appendix II - Notes Dictated to G.E.Moore in Norway. In: G.H. von Wright (ed.); G.E.M. Anscombe (ed.). Notebooks 1914-1916. Harper&Row, New York, 1961, 107-118 https://www.wittgensteinproject.org/w/index.php/Notas_Ditadas_%C3%A0_G.E._Moore_na_Noruega
• 2023. “O que é Positivismo Jurídico?”. Translation of: Kelsen, Hans. Was ist juristischer Positivismus?”, JuristenZeitung, 20. Jahrg., v. 20, nr. 15/16, 13 ago. 1965, p. 465-469 (authorized by the Hans Kelsen Institut). Revista Pensar - Revista de Ciências Jurídicas [A1 (top tier in Brazil)], 28 (4), p. 1-8 https://doi.org/10.5020/2317-2150.2023.13471 | Version in academia.edu
• 2023. “O que é a teoria do direito?” (Translation, in collab. with Melanie de Andrade, of: Auer, Marietta. What is legal theory? Rg (Rechtsgeschichte) 29 (2021), 30-39). Revista Brasileira de Sociologia do Direito, 10 (3), 172-193 https://doi.org/10.21910/rbsd.v10i3.781 | Version in academia.edu
• [forthcoming in the fourth volume of the series “Cidadania Inexistente” (Inexistent Citizenship), Publisher Juspodium] Translation from German to Portuguese of the article: Neves, Marcelo. Grenzen der Autonomie des Rechts in einer asymmetrischen Weltgesellschaft: Von Luhmann zu Kelsen, Archiv für Rechts-und Sozialphilosophie, v. 93, n. 3, p. 363-395, 2007.
• [forthcoming in Journal “Revista Pensar - Revista de Ciência Jurídica” (Journal of Legal Sciences) - e-ISSN-2317-2150, evaluated in stratum A1 (top tier in Brazil) by the QUALIS/CAPES] Translation from German to Portuguese of the article: Kelsen, Hans. Was ist juristischer Positivismus? Juristenzeitung, v. 20, n. 15/16, p. 465-469, 1965. (authorized by the Hans Kelsen Institut).
• Dec. 2020. “Oito Chaves para Eternidade” [Eight Keys to Eternity]. A book of “contos”, a genre of short stories. Self-publishing. ISBN: 978-65-00-15191-6. Book|Version in academia.edu
• Jul. 2020. Poem “Convite para a casa 19” in: Yamashiro, Olga; Junior, Ovidio Poli (orgs.), “Parem as máquinas”, Paraty (RJ): Selo Off Flip, 2020, p.85. ISBN: 978-65-86918-06-9. Also in: Revista Interagir, Ano XV, abr./jul., 110, p. 46. ISSN 1809-5771.
• Instagram profile wittgenstein.once.said. I share findings gathered in the Bergen Nachlass Edition to researchers and the interested public in Wittgenstein’s work in German, English and Portuguese.