César Valenzuela

César Valenzuela is a PhD candidate in philosophy; they specialize in political philosophy. Their interests lie in democratic theory, environmental ethics, philosophy of race, and AI ethics. During 2024-2025, César will be a dissertation fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center. They also co-run the environmental ethics workshop "Facing the Anthropocene: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Environmental Crisis,” co-sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center and the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society.

In their dissertation, César examines how climate change pushes us to rethink the limits of democracy. The project explores which emergency powers should be granted to governments in order to guarantee both effectiveness and constraint in climate action; how much power should scientific experts have in climate decisions vis-à-vis elected representatives; and whether there is a democratic justification to engage in civil and uncivil disobedience in order to advance climate goals. César’s work also examines the political implications of different ontological accounts of race and racism, as well as the impact of machine learning on racial discrimination.

César is also an interdisciplinary performance artist creating dialogues between theater, movement, poetry, film, and political theory. Their artistic practice is in conversation with and informed by their research as a political philosopher. Like their philosophical work, their performance pieces interrogate the limits and possibilities for political action as well as the social practices that undermine the agency of oppressed groups. Through performance, César reinterprets concepts developed in political theory, while digging deeper into the nuances and uncertainties of social dynamics that cannot be fully grasped through philosophical analysis. Before coming to the Bay Area in 2019, César practiced as an actor, poet, and editor in a variety of artistic projects in Caracas and Paris. At Stanford, they have focused on integrating movement into their theater background.

César holds a B.A. and an M.A. in philosophy from the universities Sorbonne and Panthéon-Sorbonne, respectively, and studied Communications (B.A., Universidad Central de Venezuela) and French Literature (M.A., Sorbonne). They enjoy going to cardio dance classes, watching movies (a special place in their heart for horror films), and wine.

To learn more about César’s philosophical and artistic work, visit their website: www.cesarvalenzuela.com