TOOLS, METHODS AND OBJECTS IN RESEARCH

This course is dedicated to the analysis and discussion of the statute and of the relationships that subsist among the 'tools', 'methods' and 'objects' of the scientific research in the humanities. Since these are the three interrelated poles around which today's academic practice takes place, they deserve careful and critical scrutiny.

Understanding the correlations that bind together the 'tools', the 'methods' and the 'objects' of research.

Knowledge and understanding:
- To see and to consider the long terms implications and the synchronic factors contributing to the shaping of specific cases and topics under scrutiny.

Applying knowledge and understanding:
To be able to transfer to other geographical and historical contexts the knowledge and the understanding derived from the cases and topics under scrutiny.

Making judgments:
- To be able to develop personal and well-structured critical evaluations of the cases and topics examined during the course;
- To be able to subject various types of sources to critical examination.

Communication skills:
- To be able to rework and express the programme content personally, clearly, and in a well-structured manner;
- To be able to communicate the results of one’s research effectively.

Learning skills:
- To be able to integrate the study of different sources in a personal and critical way;
- To be able to undertake independent study and research.

No prerequisites are required.

Each of the themes in question will be treated and discussed in various ways, starting from the history of ideas, up to their theoretical and epistemological status.

Hans Georg-Gadamer, Verità e metodo, a cura di G. Vattimo, Bompiani, Milano 2001.
Wolfgang Iser, How to Do Theory, Wiley-Blackwell, 2005.
Enzo Melandri, Contro il simbolico. Dieci lezioni di filosofia, Quodlibet, Macerata 2007.
Giorgio Agamben, Che cos'è la filosofia?, Quodlibet, Macerata 2016.
Imre Lakatos, Paul K. Feyerabend, Sull'orlo della scienza. Pro e contro il metodo, Raffaello Cortina, Milano 1995.

Procedures to assess the understanding and learning of the participant will regard participation in the classroom discussion and a final-course short paper.

oral

Regarding the grading scale, scores will be assigned according to the following schema:

A. Scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of: Sufficient knowledge and applied comprehension of the program;
B. Scores in the 23-26 range will be awarded in the presence of: Fair knowledge and applied comprehension of the program;
C. Scores in the 27-30 range will be awarded in the presence of: Good or excellent knowledge and applied comprehension of the program;
D. Honors will be awarded in the presence of excellent knowledge and applied comprehension of the program.

Lecturing and seminar discussion.

Given the trans-areal and trans-historical nature of the themes under discussion, interventions of colleagues from different fields of specialization are expected.

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