00399 - Theoretical Philosophy

Learning outcomes

 

Course contents

Quasi notissimum : the memory of the Principle. A theoretical route through selected passages from the classics.

This course will discuss the “originary memory of being” through the reading of selected passages from the classics, following the lead of Pantaleo Carabellese's lectures. Heidegger's appraisal of the history of Western metaphysics will be constantly referred to. Students will be introduced to the main themes and figures in the history of Western thought; at the same time, by discussing various interpretations characteristic of contemporary reflection, they will be confronted with the “perenniality of philosophizing”.

Readings/Bibliography

Compulsory reading:

First part 5 CFU :

Selected passages from:

Heraclitus, Fragments, Diels-Kranz 1-126.

Parmenides, Fragments, Diels-Kranz 1-19.

Plato, Republic, VII 514a-541b; Parmenides.

Aristotle's selected pages in R. Mondolfo, Il Pensiero antico. Storia della filosofia greco-romana esposta con testi scelti dalle fonti, Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1967, pp. 277-335.

Thomas Aquinas, selected passages from the Quaestio I De Veritate ; Summa Theologiae , I, q. 2, a. 1, 2, 3; Summa contra Gentiles , lib. I, chs.  X, XI, XII, XIII.

Second part + 5 CFU :

Nicholas of Cusa, N. Cusano, De conjecturis ,  lib. I;

B. Spinoza, The Ethics, selected passages, Cfr. Etica, esposta e commentata da P. Martinetti, Torino, Paravia, 1933;

G.W.F. Hegel, The Science of Logic , vol. 1, book 1, sec. 1, ch. I; vol. 2, sec. 3, ch. 3.

A. Rosmini,  Teosofia, in Opere complete, vol. 15, Roma: Città Nuova, 2000, pp. 11-31.

Third part, for the Students who have to reach 12 CFU:

+ 2 CFU

G. Reale, Radici culturali e spirituali dell'Europa. Per una rinascita dell' "uomo europeo", Milano, Rafaello Cortina ed., 2003

Written Notes will be available at the beginning of the course, when students will be advised how best to prepare for their examination. Information on possible updates to this Syllabus will be provided during the lectures and posted on the notice board and in this course's web page.

Suggested reading:

Students who are unable to attend lectures may integrate the reading of the above-mentioned texts with the study of the relevant parts of:

G. Reale, Storia della filosofia greca e romana, Milano: Bompiani, 2004;

G. Reale, Per una nuova interpretazione di Platone, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 1989;

E. Gilson, La filosofia nel medioevo: dalle origini patristiche alla fine del XIV secolo, Firenze, Sansoni, 2004;

E. Cassirer, Storia della filosofia moderna, Milano: Il Saggiatore, 1968;

 

On Rosmini, willing students might consider reading:

 

N. Ricci,  In trasparenza. Ontologia e dinamica dell'atto creativo in Antonio Rosmini, Roma: Città Nuova, 2005.

Teaching methods

Ex-cathedra lectures, “dialogical lectures”, seminars, conversations during office hours and outside office hours by previous arrangement.

Assessment methods

Oral examination.

Office hours

See the website of Maurizio Malaguti