POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY I

The course fits into the degree course, because it allows students to know some of the major philosophical-political positions and their underlying concepts. Having achieved this result, students should be able to better evaluate the grounds of political obligation and to understand the main issues that animate the contemporary political debate.

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 about them; 3) apply them to the different political issues that animate our contemporary world.

Students must have a good level of general education.

Course topic:
Conservatism: history and significance

In the last years, new vigour has been infused into conservative political philosophy and a new scholarly attention has been directed to it. But what are its philosophical and political roots? How did it manifest itself at the dawn of modernity? After having explained, by analyzing Edmund Burke's political philosophy, the reasons for the rise of conservatism, the course will focus on its reactionary "twist", constituted by de Maistre's political philosophy, and on its most recent contributions, Oakeshott's and Scruton's, aimed at updating its ideas.

Textbooks:
Edmund Burke, Riflessioni sulla rivoluzione francese e sulle deliberazioni di alcune società di Londra ad essa relative: in una lettera destinata a un gentiluomo, in Id., Scritti politici, a cura di A. Martelloni, Utet, Torino 1963, pp. 151-443.
Joseph de Maistre, Saggio sul principio generatore delle costituzioni politiche e delle altre istituzioni umane, il Cerchio, San Marino 2012.
Michael Oakeshott, On Being Conservative, in Id., Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, 2nd edition, Liberty Press, Indianapolis 1991, pp. 407-437.
Roger Scruton, Manifesto dei conservatori, trad. it. di D. Damiani, Raffaello Cortina, Milano 2007.

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, Storia e critica dell'opinione pubblica, trad. it di A. Illuminati, F. Masini e W. Perretta, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2005.
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.

As for the oral exam, students are required to answer four questions, related to the contents of the textbooks discussed during the course.
The textbooks and the assessment methods are not different for non attending students.

The course will be realized by using the frontal lecture as teaching method. However, the student participation will be encouraged.

Italian

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Cities, infrastructure and social capital" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development