98919 - Metaphysics (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to deal with the fundamental themes of Metaphysics, from the Greeks to the present day, in order to offer the knowledge and skills to develop the main philosophical concepts underlying the various theories of the principles of reality and experience. The fundamental techniques of metaphysical argumentation and the worldviews that correspond to these arguments will be considered.

Course contents

Course Title:

Phenomenology and Metaphysics: The Realism-Idealism Controversy within the Phenomenological Movement

Description:

The two volumes of the Logical Investigations, the work through which Husserl inaugurated phenomenological philosophy, form a treatise on the theory of knowledge that is explicitly neutral from a metaphysical point of view. In phenomenology, understood as the analysis and clarification of "the essential structures of pure experiences" of knowledge, there is not "the slightest reference to real existence: no metaphysical (...) assertions can therefore occur among its premisses", writes Husserl (Logical Investigations, eng. tr. by J.N. Findlay, Routledge, London-New York 2008, p. 178).

Despite this declared metaphysical neutrality, Logical Investigations — with its famous slogan exhorting a return to the things themselves — was predominantly received as a work with a realist bent, so much so that Husserl's subsequent characterization of phenomenology as transcendental-phenomenological idealism left many of the early phenomenologists perplexed.

This course aims to shed light on the theoretical relationship between phenomenology and metaphysics and on the realism/idealism debate that marked the history of the early phenomenological movement. After an introductory section on Husserlian phenomenology, the length of which will be determined based on students' prior knowledge, the course will focus on analyzing the Husserlian texts indicated in the bibliography and on the debate concerning the metaphysical implications of phenomenology, which these texts sparked within the phenomenological movement.

Readings/Bibliography

E. Husserl, Ricerche logiche, Italian edition edited by G. Piana, Il Saggiatore, Milan 2001, 2 vols., vol. I: pp. 235-287 (material available on Virtuale).

E. Husserl, Idee per una fenomenologia pura e per una filosofia fenomenologica, Italian edition edited by V. Costa, Einaudi, Turin 2002, 2 vols., vol. I, pp. 61-154; Postilla alle idee, pp. 418-434 (material available on Virtuale).

K. Schuhmann, B. Smith, Against Idealism. Johannes Daubert vs. Husserl’s Ideas I, in “The Review of Metaphysics”, 38/4 (1985), pp. 763-793.

S. Besoli, Presentazione di Il realismo fenomenologico. Sulla filosofia dei circoli di Monaco e di Gottinga, a cura di S. Besoli e L. Guidetti, Quodlibet, Macerata 2000, pp. 9-16.

A. Pinotti, I centri fenomenologici: Monaco, Gottinga e Friburgo in Brisgovia, in A. Cimino, V. Costa (eds.), Storia della fenomenologia, Carocci, Rome 2012, pp. 113-128.

J. Héring, Il movimento fenomenologico, in Id., Fenomenologia e religione. Studio sulla teoria della conoscenza religiosa, Italian edition edited by G. Di Salvatore, Fondazione Centro Studi Campostrini, Verona 2010 (material available on Virtuale).

For those with poor prior knowledge:

D. Zahavi, Il primo libro di fenomenologia, Einaudi, Turin 2023.

V. Costa, E. Franzini, P. Spinicci, La fenomenologia, Einaudi, Turin 2002, pp. 39-232.

G. Piana, I problemi della fenomenologia, Mondadori, Milano 1966 (ed. elettronica disponibile al link http://filosofia.dipafilo.unimi.it/piana/index.php/component/docman/doc_download/79-i-problemi-della-fenomenologia)

G. Mancuso, Fenomenologia, in G. Cambiano, L. Fonnesu, M. Mori (eds.), Il pensiero contemporaneo, Il Mulino, Bologna 2015, pp. 20-60.

Non-attending students are kindly requested to contact the professor.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures, textual commentary, class discussions on specific issues, slides projection

Assessment methods

Oral exams aiming to assessing the student's ability to present, criticize and discuss the topics proposed in the course.

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)
Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders are entitled to special adjustments according to their condition, subject to assessment by the University Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact teachers or Department staff, but make an appointment with the Service. The Service will then determine what adjustments are specifically appropriate, and get in touch with the teacher. For more information, please visit the page:
https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Grade assessment criteria

30 cum laude – Outstanding. Excellent knowledge and depth of understanding. Excellent presentation.

30 – Very Good. Detailed knowledge with hints of critical thinking. Very good presentation.

Grade range 27-29 – Good. Comprehensive knowledge. Good presentation.

Grade range 24-26 – Acceptable. Elementary knowledge of the key principles and concepts. The presentation is occasionally weak.

Grade range 21-23 – Adequate. The knowledge is superficial, but the thread of the discussion has been consistently grasped. Presentation with some inadequacies.

Grade range 18-21 – Pass. Limited and superficial knowledge of the subject, a significant inability to follow the thread of the discussion. Presentation with many inadequacies.

Grade range below 18 – Fail. Poor knowledge of core material, a significant inability to engage with the discipline. Very poor presentation.

Teaching tools

Blackboard, PC,PowerPoint

Office hours

See the website of Giuliana Mancuso