That session was her gateway into a world where she could give voice to her concerns and listen to those of others in a simple and free way, without fear or judgement. “I was the youngest and felt like a fish out of water, but I always felt heard,” says Maria Eduarda. Her connection to culture and the arts went back a long way, to her years studying piano and classical singing, and the drive to set up her own project gradually took shape, fuelled by the activities and groups she organised and took part in at university.

The completion of her studies – a bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences and a master’s degree in Management – coincided with the end of the pandemic. In 2023, taking advantage of the restoration of normality and the decline in the “cultural lethargy” that had prevailed at the time, and having already gained “some professional experience”, Maria Eduarda founded the Tagarela Collective. “I wanted it to be a place where people felt at ease expressing their opinions, developing their reasoning skills and looking at philosophy as a more accessible discipline,” she reveals.

As the founder and moderator of the initiative, Maria Eduarda has to come up with the topic and organise the moderation, promotion and logistics for the sessions. Coming up with the opening question takes the longest. “I’m really into linguistics and semantics, so I spend a lot of time thinking about the double meanings of words or which direction a person’s thoughts might take if I put the verb before or after the noun,” she explains. As a rule, this is a phase involving extensive research, which may include reading the works of leading figures in philosophy or thought, but is not limited to them.

“Many questions come from thoughts I have in the shower, from films I’ve seen or from conversations with friends,” she says. This was the case with recent topics such as ‘Can we truly know someone?’, inspired by the film The Drama, or ‘Do we think in words?’, which arose from a conversation with work colleagues.

The discussions follow a set of rules. “Respect and good manners are guaranteed from the outset, but it’s always worth emphasising this,” she says. Participants must raise their hand to speak and, once given the word, clarify whether they are going to answer the question, disagree with and/or counter someone’s idea, or raise a new point. “This requires an exercise in reasoning and organising one’s thoughts, which people are not used to,” says the moderator. Waiting before speaking is equally crucial. “Many say it is difficult, because they are impatient and want to react, but the rule ultimately curbs some of that impulse.”

Each Café Filosófico welcomes around 20 people from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from extroverts who are used to voicing their opinions to shy people who are afraid to speak in front of strangers. Many are keen readers, though not necessarily of philosophy, and bring literary or cultural references to the table. Others draw on everyday experiences and things they have heard a friend or family member say to form their reflections. Age also varies; the youngest person at a session was 18 and the oldest 79. There are several ‘regulars’, but new people turn up every month. The discussions get full very quickly, so they’ve moved to holding two sessions a month instead of just one.

According to Maria Eduarda, the most stimulating part of the sessions is seeing the group set the direction of the discussion rather than simply following prepared ideas. “Sometimes, I think they’re going to explore one path, and the question takes them down another,” she observes. This is where Tagarela embodies the collective spirit implied by its name and “sets itself apart from other debates or casual conversations”.