39424 - History of Contemporary Philosophy (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Students are called to deepen the knowledge of authors and themes of that revolutionary breakdown in the thought of the 19th century (Karl Löwith) which has since come extending its consequences almost to the present. The aim is to introduce them to the so-called post-metaphysical thought centered on topics such as the end of the subject, the death of God, the overcoming of any attempt at the foundation of knowledge, the fallacy of logocentrism, etc., which have animated and still animate no small part of the philosophical reflection closest to us. Precisely because it deals with relatively recent cultural phenomena, the course aims to promote greater awareness of the surrounding world and critical capacity.

Course contents

Historicism and anti-historicism in German thought after 1848

The course focuses on the nineteenth-century German debate around the study of history and its role in the architecture of knowledge and in the formation of the common conscience in Europe. In particular, the positions of Johann Gustav Droysen and Friedrich Nietzsche will be examined.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Compulsory readings:

- J.G. Droysen, Sommario di istorica, traduzione e nota di D. Cantimori, a cura di G. Bonacina, Edizioni della Normale, Pisa 2014.

- F. Nietzsche, Sull’utilità e il danno della storia per la vita, a cura di S. Giametta, Adelphi, Milano 1974 (and subsequent reprints).

2. Choice of readings (at least two):

- R. Aron, Lezioni sulla storia, Il Mulino, Bologna 1997.- F. Bianco (ed.), Il dibattito sullo storicismo, Il Mulino, Bologna 1978.- G. Cantillo, J.G. Droysen. Storia universale e Kulturgeschichte, Morano, Napoli 1988.- B.Croce, Teoria e storia della storiografia, Adelphi, Milano 2001.- F. Guerra, Conjunge et imperabis. Einheit e Freiheit nel pensiero politico di Johann Gustav Droysen, Il Mulino, Bologna 2016.- K. Löwith, Significato e fine della storia. I presupposti teologici della filosofia della storia, Il Saggiatore, Milano 2015.- E. Mazzarella, Nietzsche e la storia. Storicità e ontologia della vita, Carocci, Roma 2022.- A. Orsucci, Da Nietzsche a Heidegger. Mondo classico e civiltà europea, Edizioni della Normale, Pisa 2012.- P. Rossi, Storia e storicismo nella filosofia contemporanea, Il Saggiatore, Milano 1991.- F. Tessitore, Introduzione allo storicismo, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2009.

Non-attending students will have to read in addition K. Löwith’s Da Hegel a Nietzsche. La frattura rivoluzionaria nel pensiero del secolo XIX, Einaudi, Torino 2000.

 

3. Institutional Part

Knowledge of the following authors of the history of philosophy between the 16th and 20th centuries will be required for the examination:

Bruno, Machiavelli, Bacone, Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Montesquieu, Vico, Hume, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Croce, Wittgenstein, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Lukács, la Scuola di Francoforte, Foucault, Arendt.

Students can use the textbook they prefer or that they already own, checking that all the authors included in the list below are covered and, if necessary, integrating it with other textbooks. For those who do not already have such texts we suggest:

Massimo Mori, Storia della filosofia moderna, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2005

Antonello La Vergata, Franco Trabattoni, Filosofia cultura cittadinanza, Rizzoli, Milano, 2011

Giuseppe Cambiano, Massimo Mori, Storia e antologia della filosofia, Laterza, Roma, 1993 e seguenti

Fabio Cioffi et al., Il testo filosofico, Mondadori, Milano 1992 e seguenti

Luca Guidetti, Giovanni Matteucci, Le grammatiche del pensiero, Zanichelli, Bologna, 2012

Students who have already taken an exam on a historical-philosophical topic with prof. Alberto Burgio or  with prof. Francesco Cerrato or with prof. Diego Donna will not have to take the institutional part of the exam.

 

Teaching methods

Ex cathedra Lessons

Assessment methods

The final oral exam focuses on the programme’s material and will be held in the Professor’s office, Via Zamboni, 38.

The critical evaluation considers the fundamental notions, the level of the analysis and the critical skills. On the basis of these three principal parameters an overall evaluation in thirtieths is expressed.

18-21/30: Sufficient

22-25/30: Average

26-28/30: Good

29-30/30: Very Good

30/30 with praise: Excellent

Teaching tools

Some lessons will be recorded and made available to all students.

Office hours

See the website of Giovanni Bonacina