POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 1

The course fits into the degree course, because it aims to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of the major philosophical-political issues today. Nonetheless, the course has not only the goal to provide an understanding of the primary and secondary bibliography related to the subject-matters, but also to frame the contemporary social, political and cultural changes 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 about them; 3) apply them to the different political issues that animate our contemporary world.

Students must have a good level of general education.

Title of the course: Hegemony and democracy in the contemporary political world

This 30-hour course aims to introduce students to some key concepts of Antonio Gramsci's political philosophy, i. e. the concepts of “hegemony”, “civil society”, “historical bloc”, “integral State”, “war of position”, “war of movement”, “caesarism” ecc. These concepts will be explored in light of the Gramscian attempt to ground a science of politics, capable of taking into account the uneven process of universalization of particular, “corporate”, interests. In particular, the attention will be directed to the nexus between force and consent which is located at the heart of the concept of “hegemony”. In the final part of the course, it will be possible to analyze some uses of the concept of “hegemony”, especially in the domain of international relations.

Textbook
Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ed. and trans. by Quentin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith, London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1971, pp. 313-441, 450-557.

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

M. Foucault,The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the College De France, 1978-1979, New York: Picador, 2008.
G.W.F. Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Th. Hobbes, Leviathan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
K. Marx, Il Capitale, Roma: Editori Riuniti, 1994.
J.J. Rousseau, The Social Contract and Other Political Writings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
P. Thomas, The Gramscian Moment, Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2011 (Paperback)
M. Weber, Economy and Society. An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: University of California Press, 2013.

The final exam will be written and takes 2 hours. The four open questions are based on the contents developed within the course and Antonio Gramsci's text. The answers must be 20-25 lines maximum. In order to pass the exam at least 3 questions must be completed.
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.

Inglese