In this article, we will review the intellectual biography and work of the Brazilian philosopher Marilena Chaui, focusing on the political philosophy that she has been building throughout the development of her thought., which has occurred in concomitance with his praxis as a "participating intellectual". We will begin with a brief review of her academic training process in the context of the dictatorship and her concern about political conflicts in Brazil, to situate the discussion in her interpretation of Spinoza's philosophy and critique of theology and superstition, placing it in relation to her reflection on the problem of "voluntary servitude" in Laboetie, as articulating axes of her thought. It will end with a characterization of the critique of the ideology of neoliberal totalitarianism from the theoretical matrix exposed.