74956 - Moral Philosophy B (1)

Learning outcomes

Course contents

ILLNESS, DISABILITY, NORMALITY

This course intends to highlight some main philosophical stances about the notions of health, disease/illness and disability. We will consider how normalcy is called in question by the very existence of "imperfect" bodies, and how, conversely, disability and chronic illness undermine modern political representations of individual autonomy/self-reliance.
Among the topics addressed: the body and its long-standing absence from philosophical discourse; physical pain and philosophy; normal and abnormal as a philosophical, political and scientific issue; conceptual definitions of health and disease (biostatistic, normative, action models); the social model of disability and its critics; capability theory as applied to disability; and, finally, some relevant case studies.

Readings/Bibliography

[Some texts are Italian translations, but all students are welcome to refer to the original versions, if available:]

Required readings:

1. Readings provided by the teacher and available from http://campus.unibo.it (about 100 pages. It will be available by the start of the course; please download it for class use. Some readings will be in English).
   

2. Georges Canguilhem, Il normale e il patologico [orig. 1943/1966], trad. it. Torino: Einaudi, 1998.

3. [articoli] Michael Bury, «Sulla malattia cronica e la disabilità» - Antonio Maturo, «Commenti: Disabilità e dimensioni di malattia», Salute e società, 4, 1, 2005, pp. 147-172 [available from http://digital.casalini.it/10.1400/67955 e da http://digital.casalini.it/10.1400/67958, free to Unibo users].

4. One of the following (non-attending students will choose two):
   

• Mario Biggeri, Nicolò Bellanca, a cura di, Dalla relazione di cura alla relazione di prossimità: l'approccio delle capability alle persone con disabilità, Napoli: Liguori, 2010.

• Roberto Brigati, Francesca Emiliani, a cura di, Vite normali: storia, realtà e immaginario dell'emofilia, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2013.

• Daniela Crocetti, L'invisibile intersex: storie di corpi medicalizzati, Pisa: ETS, 2013.

• Michel Foucault, Gli anormali: Corso al Collège de France (1974-1975), trad. it. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2010.

• E. Goffman, Stigma: l'identità negata, trad. it. Verona: Ombre corte, 2003 [or original version Stigma. Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, 1963].

• Lennart Nordenfelt, La natura della salute. L'approccio della teoria dell'azione, trad. it. Milano: Zadig, 2003.
  

• A. Fabris, F. Ciglia, a cura di, Critica della ragione medica, fascicolo monografico della rivista "Teoria", 21, 1, 2011 (Pisa: ETS). [available free to Unibo users from http://digital.casalini.it/9788846730251]

• Lennard J. Davis, ed., The Disability Studies Reader, 2nd ed., London: Routledge, 2006.
  

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures, class discussions. Some short exercises may be requested, either during class or at home. I will probably invite guest speakers on relevant topics (to be announced).

Assessment methods

Attending students (i.e. attending no less than 12 lessons) will deliver a final paper which will be graded on a 30/30 scale. The paper will be about one or more of the assigned readings (including the optional one, chosen by the student); special topics can be submitted to the teacher's approval. Papers should be in by the last lesson (see calendar in the Guide). I will ask two or three students to give a presentation of their papers during the last lesson; this is on a voluntary basis, but it will be greatly appreciated. In the case of Erasmus students, language barriers will be duly taken account of, both in the paper and the presentations.

In addition to the paper, students can take a viva voce if they want to try and raise the paper's mark.
Non-attending students will only take the viva test, based on an extra-bibliography as indicated in the appropriate section.
Please read the Guide to the course (in Italian) that will be available from http://campus.unibo.it for further details about length of paper, evaluation criteria, etc.

Teaching tools

There will be a course-related site on the Unibo e-learning platform (https://elearning-cds.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=6643). All attending students are required to subscribe. The webpage will feature a discussion forum, event calendar, study topics and tools, and will be used for teacher-students communication and the distribution of homework.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Brigati