90064 - History of Philosophy from Renaissance to Enlightenment (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide depth knowledge on modern philosophical culture of the period that goes from fifteenth to the eighteenth century, with particular interest for Renaissance philosophical texts, seventeenth century philosophy and and Enlightenment philosophy. In this perspective, which focuses on modernity and its origins, specific themes will be examined and classical texts questioned, contextualizing their analysis in the framework of long-term traditions, but also underlining moments of crisis and rupture with the past. The aim of the course is to allow students to autonomously face the reading of philosophical texts in a historical perspective; to perceive the relevance of historiographical and methodological questions related to periodization and polarity between continuity and disruption; to know the main lines of modern and contemporary historiography, acquiring, at the same time, the awareness of the problematic nature and complexity of philosophical research.

Course contents

Course Title: Worlds of Possibility and Faces of Error: Human Nature and Imagination in Giovan Francesco Pico, Montaigne, Malebranche

The reflection on imagination (and its ambiguities and intermittences) arrives in modernity loaded with an ancient history, having undergone highly original developments in Renaissance thought. During this period, imagination was recognized in various forms for its structurally mediating nature and its aspects of freedom, inventiveness and productivity. At the beginning of the 16th century, this faculty became the subject of a brief treatise by Giovan Francesco Pico della Mirandola. Pico’s work, marked by its unique blend of Aristotelian approach, anti-Ficinian polemic, and a pessimistic view of the human condition – exposed to constant risk of ontological and moral degradation due to the aberrations and 'diseases' of imagination – significantly influenced fundamental aspects of the modern idea of vis imaginandi. His work highlights the controversial status of imagination, balancing between an unstable and unreliable power, the birthplace of deception and disorientation, and a crucial function in the formation of experience, ultimately becoming the faculty of the possible in action. Montaigne, a keen reader of Pico, thus interprets libertas imaginandi as a unique seat of human self-determination, forward-looking vision and perpetual transformative potential.

The theme of the plasticity of imagination as a condition for exercising human rational nature, present in varying forms in Pico and Montaigne, encounters a setback in the reflections of Nicolas Malebranche. Malebranche’s treatment of this faculty constitutes one of the richest and most complex in all of modernity, starting from fundamental questions about the soul/body relationship opened by Descartes. Engaging in a critical dialogue with Montaigne’s Essais, Malebranche revisits the elements of human fragility marked by original sin. He delineates a path to truth rooted in a «spiritual attention» that eschews the confused noises stirred by the body, focusing not on imagination but on the intellect – viewed as the part of the soul less tied to the senses and passions, and closer to God.

Based on these considerations, following a brief presentation illustrating the most significant outcomes of reflection on imagination between the 15th and 16th centuries (with particular attention to Marsilio Ficino), the course aims to propose a reading path of the three thinkers, emphasizing their numerous thematic interconnections, amid convergences and deep disagreements. Particular attention will be paid to the following themes: the description of the physiological and psychological mechanisms governing imaginative processes; the link between the power of imagination, arguments of reason, and the «corruption of the heart»; the role of imagination in the religious realm and in visionary and supernatural phenomena; the relationship between imagination and imitatio; the qualitative affinity between human and animal imagination.

Readings/Bibliography

1. During the classes will be read the following texts (or any part):

G. Pico della Mirandola, L'immaginazione, edizione critica, traduzione, saggio introduttivo di F. Molinarolo, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2022;

M. de Montaigne, L'immaginazione, introduzione, traduzione e note di N. Panichi, Firenze, Olschki, 2000;

N. Malebranche, La ricerca della verità, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2007, pp. 133-270.

2. In addition to in-depth knowledge of the texts referred to in paragraph 1, all studens must read one of the following essays:

F. Brusori, La mente come specchio flessibile. Storia e preistoria dell'immaginazione produttiva tra XV e XVIII secolo, Bologna, Pendragon, 2022;

G. Gori, Introduzione alla lettura della Recherche de la vérité, Milano, Cuem, 1998;

Imago in phantasia depicta. Studi sulla teoria dell'immaginazione, a cura di L. Formigari, G. Casertano, I. Cubeddu, Roma, Carocci, 1999;

N. Panichi, Montaigne, Roma, Carocci, 2010;

L. Pappalardo, Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola: fede, immaginazione e scetticismo, Brepols, Turnhout, 2014;

M. Priarolo, Visioni divine. La teoria della conoscenza di Malebranche tra Agostino e Descartes, Pisa, ETS, 2004;

N. Tirinnanzi. Umbra naturae. L'immaginazione da Ficino a Bruno, Roma, Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 2000.

N.B.: The course program is the same, as for attending and not attending students. Anyway, students who cannot attend classes or who don't know Italian may contact the teacher (in office hours, and not by e-mail) to decide upon any additional or alternative readings.

Teaching methods

The course consists of 15 lessons.

Since it is a course/seminar, attending students will be encouraged to conduct brief individual works of critical analysis on topics or authors relating to the course contents.

These works will have value to the examination.

The course will be held in the second semester and will start on February 10, 2025.

Timetable

- Monday, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Room B, Via Centotrecento;

- Thursday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Room E, Via Zamboni 34;

- Friday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Room E, Via Zamboni 34.

Office hours: Prof. Scapparone will receive students on Thursday, h. 3.30-4.30 p.m.

Assessment methods

Final oral examination.

Students who have attended the course will be able, if they wish, to integrate the examination with short essays or presentations on topics agreed with the teacher.

In accordance with the class, a written text on a specific part of the program could be organized. Detailed procedures about this text shall be laid down at the beginning of the course.

Assessment criteria

The goal of the exam is to measure the achievement of the following learning objectives:

- Analysis and interpretation of Pico's, Montaigne's and Malebranche's texts;

- Knowledge of secondary literature works listed in the bibliography, combined with the ability to learn how to reference them in autonomous and critical forms;

- Knowledge of the history of Renaissance and early modern philosophy.

The student's ability to learn how to operate with confidence and autonomy within the sources and the secondary literature and the possession of a language and forms of expression appropriate to the discipline will be assessed in a particular manner.

Assessment thresholds

30 with distinction: Excellent results for the solidity of skills, wealth of critical articulation, expressive properties and maturity.

30: Excellent result: complete and well-articulated knowledge of themes addressed in lessons, with critical ideas, and illustrated with adequate expressive features.

29-27: Good result: complete knowledge and adequately contestualized, fundamentally correct presentation.

26-24: Moderate result: knowledge is present in the essential areas, though not thorough and not always articulated correctly.

23-21: Sufficient result: superficial or purely mnemonic understanding of the subject, confused articulation of the presentation, with often inappropriate expression.

20-18: Barely sufficient result: knowledge of the subject, articulation during discussions and methods of expression demonstrate considerable gaps in understanding.

< 18: Insufficient result, exam failed. The student is invited to attend a subsequent exam session where the essential skills have not been acquired, lacking the ability to orient themselves within the subjects of the course and of the same discipline and where the methods of expression demonstrate considerable gaps in understanding.

Students with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) or temporary or permanent disabilities

It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance.

The office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

Slides;

Photocopies (limited to hard to find texts);

Advanced seminars;

Any individualized works.

Office hours

See the website of Elisabetta Scapparone