30413 - Philosophy Laboratory (1) (G.E)

Learning outcomes

The student learns to read and critically analyze philosophical texts and to write a philosophical essay.

Course contents

General Information

The Philosophy Workshop has three fundamental objectives:

• education in philosophical writing and the editorial conventions in use in the scientific community;
• the introduction to the use of bibliographical resources;
• an introduction to reading a philosophical text and writing a short essay about it.
  

The activity of the Philosophy Workshop requires regular attendance. In order to be admitted to the final exam and obtain eligibility, students have to attend at least 12 out of 15 classes (24 hours out of 30).

Students can choose from several proposals of Philosophy Workshops. Programmes and teachers’ names are available on the website of the First Cycle Degree/Bachelor in Philosophy (corsi.unibo.it/1cycle/Philosophy). Up to 40 students may attend each laboratory.

Application

• log in with your username and password to Students On Line;
• press the "Reservations" icon;
• select the required laboratory.
  

For all Workshops, application is open from 1 September 2023 and closes automatically after the first 3 classes have been held. It is only possible to apply for one Workshop at a time. Each list accepts a maximum of 40 registrations.

Attendance

Attendance at the Workshop is verified by signature (or via the online platform in the case of distance learning classes). Falsification of a signature will result in exclusion from the final exam for the current academic year. You will therefore have to wait until the following academic year to be able to attend the Philosophy Workshop again. The same standard will hold for students submitting written exams which are totally or partially copied from sources or digital texts. In this regard, see the rules concerning plagiarism published on the First Cycle Degree website.

Cases of inability to attend the Workshop

Only in the event of justified inability to attend is an alternative programme foreseen. The cases provided for are as follows:

• working students who cannot obtain specific permission to attend the Workshop; these students shall inform the lecturer at the beginning of the module and provide a declaration of their employers stating their inability to attend;
• Erasmus or Overseas students; these students shall promptly provide documentary evidence to the teacher showing their inability to attend on grounds of residence abroad.
  

The final essay

For attending students assessment will consist in the submission and discussion of a short essay on the philosophical text discussed in the Workshop attended. The essay will be evaluated both for form and for content. During the Workshop, lecturer will provide instructions on how to write the final essay, and all students are requested to download and study the manual of philosophical writing, which can be found here.

 

Detailed information
Augustine's Confessions. Text, sources, philosophical perspectives.

"Augustine is passionate about what we call 'the search for meaning': meaning of human existence, of evil and death, of guilt, and of equilibrium that is lost and found. Like us, he distrusts systems, exercising a demanding critique of them; he tragically lives the temptation of desperate skepticism; and, even when he thinks he has found it, he passionately continues to try to understand humans' weaknesses, the limits of reason, and the obscurities of our destiny'".

With these words, Jacques Fontaine introduces one of the most widely read and studied works of Western thought, the Confessions of Augustine of Hippo.

The aim of the workshop is to lead the students to explore the numerous philosophical themes presented in the work's thirteen books in order to discover their sources, thus looking at ancient philosophy, or to establish their influence on modern and contemporary thought.

Readings/Bibliography

Text (required):

• Agostino, Le confessioni (any edition)
  
  

Critical studies (optional):

a) Introduction to Augustine

• G. Catapano, Agostino, Carocci, Roma 2010;
• K. Flasch, Agostino d'Ippona. Introduzione all'opera filosofica, Il Mulino, Bologna 1983;
• É. Gilson, Introduzione allo studio di Sant'Agostino, Marietti, Genova 1983;
• C. Horn, Sant'Agostino, Il Mulino, Bologna 2005.

b) Introduction to Confessions

• AA.VV., Le Confessioni di Agostino (402-2002): bilancio e prospettive, Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, Roma 2003;
• J. Fontaine, Introduzione generale, in: Sant'Agostino, Confessioni. Volume I, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla/Arnoldo Mondadori, Milano 2007, pp. IX-CXXXIV;
• T. Toom, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's "Confessions", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2020.

Additional bibliographical suggestions for further study of specific topics will be provided during the Lab.

Teaching methods

The Laboratorio will be structured as follows:

6 lectures devoted to the presentation of the main themes of the Confessions, during which some considerations on philosophical essay writing and bibliographical research will be given;

9 seminar meetings during which students are invited to present papers, agreed with the lecturer, based on the findings of the previous lectures.

Assessment methods

Students will be assessed on the basis of:

• participation in classroom discussion;
• individual presentations (carried out alone or in teams);
• a final written essay (min. 12,000 characters, max. 15,000 characters, including spaces and excluding bibliography) to be sent by email to the lecturer at least 15 days before the date of the examination call. The essay, linguistically and stylistically correct, must concern topics addressed during the Workshop.

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Difficulties have the right to special adjustments according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the instructor but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adjustments. For more information, visit the page.

Teaching tools

Any teaching support tools will be made available on the Virtual platform.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Colli