POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

The course fits into the degree course, because it aims to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of the major philosophical-political approaches. Nonetheless, the course has not only the goal to provide an understanding of the primary and secondary bibliography related to the subject-matters, because it also aims to frame the social, political and cultural changes in the modern and contemporary world in the light of the fundamental philosophical-political concepts.

By the end of the course, the students should be able to 1) understand the meaning and the scope of the concepts discussed during the course; 2) reflect critically and autonomously about them; 3) apply them to the different political issues that animate our contemporary world. In order to achieve this result, the students will be familiarized with the basic aspects of the philosophico-political field and the main theoretical and interpretive traditions which have accompanied it.

Laurea magistrale (master's degree) students wishing to attend the course should be familiar with the basic concepts of political philosophy.

Course Topic: What is the State?

Since the end of the '70, awareness is raised about the crisis facing the traditional State-form, born at the dawn of modern Europe. On the other hand, the investigation of the crisis of the State cannot be effectively realized if one does not consider the main features of the modern State and the transformations that affected it. The latter are deeply connected to the remarkable changes concerning the economic, social and cultural sphere. The course, thus, aims to reconstruct the main features of the modern State in the light of the on-going processes of transformation.

Textbook:
Gianfranco Poggi, Lo Stato, il Mulino, Bologna 1992.
Maurizio Fioravanti (a cura di), Lo Stato moderno in Europa. Istituzioni e diritto, Laterza, Roma 2017.
Norberto Bobbio, Stato, governo, società. Frammenti di un dizionario politico (only the chapter entitled "Stato, potere, governo"), Einaudi, Torino 2006.

The following list does not cover the textbooks. It covers some texts I could mention during the lectures.

J. Habermas, Solidarietà fra estranei, trad. it. di L. Ceppa, Guerini, Milano 1997.
J. Habermas, Teoria dell'agire comunicativo, trad. it di P. Rinaudo, il Mulino, Bologna 1986, 2 voll.
Th. Hobbes, Leviatano, ed. it. di A. Pacchi, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2014.
H. Kelsen, Lineamenti di dottrina pura del diritto, ed. it. a cura di M. G. Losano, Einaudi, Torino 1966.
N. Luhmann, Potere e complessità sociale, trad. it. di R. Schmidt e D. Zolo, il Saggiatore, Milano 2010.
J. Rawls, Una teoria della giustizia, ed. it. di S. Maffettone, Feltrinelli, Milano 1983.
J.J. Rousseau, Contratto sociale, in Id., Scritti politici, ed. it. a cura di M. Garin, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1994.
M. Weber, Economia e società, ed. it. a cura di P. Rossi, Edizioni di Comunità, Torino 1986.

The exam will be oral. It will be structured in the following manner: students are required to answer three questions related to the contents developed within the course and the textbooks. Furthermore, the questions will be aimed to test the understanding of the conceptual contents and to develop the capacity to reflect critically on them.
The textbooks and the assessment methods are not different for non attending students.

The teaching will be delivered in a frontal style, but the student participation will be encouraged.

Italian

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development