HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY - II

NB: this is a course consisting of two inseparable parts. For those who, due to curricular requirements, only attend the first or second part of the course, the examination will focus solely on the corresponding part.
The course is one of the core courses of the degree programme in Philosophy and aims to provide students with the methodological tools necessary for a critical understanding of the main historical and philosophical issues of the contemporary era, also in connection with other fields of knowledge and research. In particular, the objectives of the course are aimed at acquiring an understanding, knowledge and critical interpretation of the main philosophical texts of the contemporary era.

The course aims to provide in-depth knowledge of the philosophers and the most important historical and cultural contexts, of the problems of contemporary times and of the increasingly close interrelationship between the various 'specialised' fields of knowledge.
For these reasons, the didactic task is to provide knowledge and to train comprehension skills so that the student can build a critical autonomy of judgement and correct linguistic and communicative skills.

In order to deal effectively with the contents of the course, the student must have acquired the following during the three-year course: mastery of the philosophical vocabulary; knowledge of the fundamental themes and junctures of the history of philosophy.

Life: the organism, the human, the social. Contemporary French-language philosophy.

An introduction to the history of French philosophy from the 1789 revolution to the 1980s. We will focus on:
1. Philosophical movements in relation to historical moments: sensualism and associationism, eclecticism and positivism, spiritualism, phenomenology and existentialism, (post)structuralism
2. A series of problems: the possibility of knowledge and its foundation, intersubjectivity, society and action, the relationship between philosophy and other disciplines in the humanities and life sciences.
3. The influence of French philosophy on texts and intellectual transformations in Europe.

Bergson, Saggio sui dati immediati della coscienza (capitolo III)
Bergson, Pensiero e movimento (introduzione)
Durkheim – Le Regole del metodo sociologico (primi due cap.)
Politzer - Critica dei fondamenti della psicologia (introduzione e conclusione)
Sartre – La Trascendenza dell’ego

Due testi a scelta tra:

Sartre - Critica della ragione dialettica (pp. 19-34, 130-138)
Lévi-Strauss, Pensiero selvaggio (ultimo capitolo)

Canguilhem, Il normale e il patologico (intro, primo capitolo e conclusione)
Canguilhem, La conoscenza della vita (Introduzione e cap. “Aspetti del vitalismo”)

The final examination will be oral and will involve a discussion based on a number of open-ended questions, selected from a list that will be posted on Moodle one week before the examination session. A short dissertation on a topic related to the course is welcome but OPTIONAL.

oral

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

Grading will follow departmental guidelines.

Teaching will be divided into
- into a frontal teaching part, in which the lecturer will introduce students to the course topics
- and a dialogue-seminar part.