O Filósofo da Rua XV
A novel about life, death and the limits of language when it tries to convey human experience.
View bookPhilosopher · Writer · Professor
Alexandre
H. Reis
Philosophy, the history of suicide, freedom and the ethical questions of human existence.
Professor at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, with doctorates in Philosophy and Science Education from UFRGS. He coordinates LYSIS, the Research Centre for Suicide and Ways of Life.
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Biography
Work at the intersection of philosophy, history and life.
Alexandre Henrique dos Reis is a philosopher, writer and professor. He earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in Philosophy at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and completed two doctorates at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. He teaches at the Universidade Federal de Pelotas in the undergraduate programme in Environmental Management and the Graduate Programme in Philosophy.
His teaching career includes appointments at the Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais and twelve years at the Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco. His research examines historical changes in voluntary death, the foundations of ethics and the limits of normative accounts of human existence. He chaired the UNIVASF Research Ethics Committee and serves on the Research Ethics Committee of UFPel’s Faculty of Medicine.
Academic Background
Education and Academic Work
2025 · PhD in PhilosophyUFRGS
Lucretia’s Confessions: Augustine and the Anatropy of Voluntary Death.
Lucretia’s Confessions: Augustine and the Anatropy of Voluntary Death.
2016 · PhDGraduate Programme in Science Education — Chemistry of Life and Health
UFRGS
Ethics and Education from a Teleological Perspective: Genealogy and Critique.
UFRGS
Ethics and Education from a Teleological Perspective: Genealogy and Critique.
2004 · Master’s in PhilosophyUFMG
The Metaphysics of Dionysus: Aspects of a Tragic Dialectic.
The Metaphysics of Dionysus: Aspects of a Tragic Dialectic.
2000 · Bachelor’s in PhilosophyUFMG
Degree in Philosophy, with participation in the PET/CAPES programme.
Degree in Philosophy, with participation in the PET/CAPES programme.
Bibliography
Books and Editions
Philosophy, history, essays and literature. The catalogue includes books available for purchase and titles that can be read free of charge.
História do Suicídio
An inquiry into historical changes in voluntary death from antiquity to the ascendancy of Christianity.
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A invenção do suicídio
A study of how the concept of suicide took shape and of its ethical, legal and medical consequences.
The book was written between 2019 and 2023 and submitted to Editora da UFABC in 2024. The digital edition is available as a free download from the publisher. The print edition will be available in early 2027.
Os Filósofos e a Morte
Essays on freedom, finitude and the relationship between thought and life.
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Quem Escreveu os Evangelhos?
A philosophical and historical inquiry into testimony and interpretation in early Christianity.
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Ensaio sobre o Martírio Cristão
A reflection on testimony, voluntary death and the moral horizons of martyrdom.
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Os Jardins do Ethos
An introduction to ethics through the fundamental problems of living together.
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Os Jardins da Academia
A reading of ancient education in critical dialogue with contemporary educational practice.
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History of Suicide — Tome I
The first tome examines how the idea of suicide took shape historically.
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History of Suicide — Tome II
Voluntary death among Greeks and Romans, from practices and ideas to the controversies they provoked.
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History of Suicide — Tome III
Christianity and the legacy of antiquity in the history of voluntary death.
The Gardens of Ethos
A philosophical introduction to ethics in an edition for international readers.
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Treatise on Suicidology: Theoretical Foundations
A study of the historical, philosophical and epistemological foundations of suicidology.
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The Authoritarian Trap
An essay on authoritarianism, resentment and political responsibility.
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The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind
A critical edition of the classic work on crowd psychology, with editorial commentary.
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Academic Publications
Selected Articles
Reasons to Die and Reasons to Live: Nietzsche and the Question of Suicide
Annales FAJE · 2024
A Critique of the Idea of Suicide: Contributions to a Public Debate
Sapere Aude · 2024
Nineteenth-Century and Contemporary Views of Suicide
Rios Eletrônica · 2020 · Co-authored
Exercises in Tragosophy in Times of Pandemic
Semiárido de Visu · 2020
Education and Ethics Beyond Deontology
Revista Ciências & Ideias · 2017
Education in the Realms of Dogmatism
Imagens da Educação · 2016 · Co-authored
Research and Outreach
LYSIS and Research Projects
LYSIS
The Research Centre for Suicide and Ways of Life is affiliated with UFPel. It brings together philosophy, mental health, history, the social sciences and environmental studies to broaden our understanding of voluntary death and ways of life.
Browse the archive Visit LYSIS ↗Research Projects
The Regulation of Voluntary Death and the Perspectives of Silence — research begun in 2025 on ethical hospitality, language and the plurality of experiences.
Genealogy of Suicide — a historical research project carried out between 2015 and 2021.
Universities · Conferences · Media
Talks and Discussions
The Invention of Suicide
The history of a concept and its moral, legal and medical transformations.
What Can History Teach Us About Prevention?
The limits of reductionism and the challenges of developing an interdisciplinary understanding.
Nietzsche, Freedom and Voluntary Death
Reasons to live, reasons to die and the philosophical problem of freedom.
Ethics and Ways of Life
Responsibility, human formation and contemporary moral conflicts.
Curitiba · 24 October 2026
Talk at the Second Seminar on Suicidology, Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná.
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Literature and Critical Reception
Readings and Conversations
História do Suicídio · Critical Reception
Antônio Torres
Writer and member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras
“I read your História do Suicídio with great interest and learned a great deal.”
In his essay, Antônio Torres discusses the historical breadth of the research, the richness of its documentary sources and the dialogue between philosophy and literature.
A História do Suicídio em 6.692 toques, com espaços. Originally published in the Portuguese literary journal InComunidadeon 1 April 2022.
Read the full essay in the original publication ↗
Watch Antônio Torres in conversation with Alexandre H. Reis (13 December 2021) ↗
O Filósofo da Rua XV
The novel O Filósofo da Rua XV (O sorriso de Hegésias) is part of Alexandre H. Reis’s literary work. It brings philosophical reflection into the narrative while preserving what is singular about human experience and resists reducing it to ready-made categories.
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