85105 - ITALIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT (1) (LM)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

At the end of the course, students will have the tools for gaining a basic understanding of the theoretical and practical issues debated in the history of Italian political thought in the modern and contemporary ages. By directly analysing the sources, students will define the theoretical specificities of the main authors of the history of Italian political thought and relate these to one another, communicating them in an effective, coherent way.

Contenuti

The course will introduce the students to the work of some of the most important authors in the history of Italian political thought from the sixteenth century to the second half of the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on their understanding of political leadership and the relations between leaders and led, privileged and subaltern groups, ruling classes and common people.
In doing so, the course will also address some important specificities of modern Italian history, society, and culture.

After a brief methodological and theoretical introduction, which will provide some basic elements and concepts to frame the overall topic (approximately classes 1 and 2) in a broader historical and conceptual perspective, the course will explore the following moments:

- The early modern age, with a special focus on Niccolò Machiavelli's ideas on republics and principalities and his understanding of the relationship between rulers and the people, and Giovanni Botero's theories on the reason of the state, which was intended as a tool for achieving firm domination over peoples through careful government of the population (approximately classes 3 to 6: the main readings will be taken from Machiavelli's Prince and Discourses on Livy and from Botero's treatise on The Reason of State).

- The age of the Risorgimento, which will be approached through the discussion of the literary works and political ideas of the two most important Italian writers of the period, Giacomo Leopardi and Alessandro Manzoni (approximately classes 7 to 9: the main readings will be taken from Leopardi's writings on governments, the French Revolution and the Italian nation, and from Alessandro Manzoni's novel, The Betrothed).

- The first decades of the 20th century, with a focus on the emergence of modern mass society in Italy, on Gaetano Mosca's theory of elites, and on Antonio Gramsci's understanding of modern civil society, his critique of the Italian ruling groups, and his strategies for organizing and involving the subaltern classes in political life (approximately classes 10 to 13: the main readings will be taken from Mosca's book The ruling Class and Gramsci's Prison Notebooks).

- The second half of the twentieth century, with a special focus on the radical theories that emerged during the 1960s and 1970s, such as workerism and, more extensively, Carla Lonzi's feminist critique of patriarchal politics (approximately classes 14 and 15).

Testi/Bibliografia

Regular attendance and interaction in class is an integral part of the learning activity. For this reason, the program for attending students differs from that for non-attending students.

Program for students attending at least 70% of the course:

A reading list with excerpts from the works of the aforementioned authors that will be read and commented on in class will be available on the platform Virtuale (accessible by Unibo students via the "Teaching Materials" link on this page) before the beginning of the course and, together with the passages included in the slides, will constitute the basic bibliography for the final exam for students who have attended at least 70% of the course.

Links to additional suggested readings or other materials will be posted on Virtuale during the course to complement the lectures and provide more background notions, but will not constitute a mandatory assignment for the exam.

Attending students are strongly recommended to keep up with the readings during the classes to facilitate their analysis and discussion.

Program for student who cannot attend the course with regularity:

The bibliography for non-attending students will be based on the following groups of texts (including sources and critical essays that can serve as a guide). In order to pass the final exam, students will have to choose two of these groups to study.

Group A:

N. Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, Translated by H. C. Mansfield and Nathan Tarcov (Book I, chapters 1-13, 16-20, 37, 55, 58; Book II, chapters 1-2, 17-18, 20, 29; Book III, chapter 1, 8-9).

N. Machiavelli, The Prince, translated and with an Introduction by H. C. Mansfield Jr., 2. ed, Chicago-London, The University of Chicago Press, 1998.

F. Del Lucchese, The Political Philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2015 (pp. 1-113).

Group B:

G. Botero, The Reason of State, Cambridge University Press (Book 1, 2, 3, 4, 7).

M. Foucault, Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France, New York, Palgrave MacMillan, 2007 (particularly pp. 87-134; 227-361).

Group C:

G. Mosca, The Ruling Class, ed. by H.D. Kahn, Charleston, Nabu Press, 2013.

A. E. Albertoni, Mosca and the Theory of Elitism, Oxford-New York, Blackwell, 1987

Group D:

A. Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ed. by Q. Hoare - G. Nowell Smith, New York, New York International Publisher, 2014 (pp. 1-276).

J. Schwarzmantel, The Routledge Guidebook to Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, London-New York, Routledge, 2015 (pp. 1-212).

Group E:

C. Lonzi, Let's spit on Hegel, in Feminist Interpretations of Hegel, ed. by P. Jagentowicz Mills, Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996.

G. Parati-R. West, Italian Feminist Theory and Practice. Equality and Sexual Difference, Madison, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2002.

Metodi didattici

The course will essentially be structured as a series of frontal lectures aimed at introducing the authors, their context and their main arguments to students who may not have a specific background on them, and at directly reading and discussing their texts.
Students are encouraged to participate actively in class and to interact with the teacher by asking questions and making appropriate comments, both during the lectures and in the moments devoted to more open discussions.

The teacher will also be available during office hours for further explanations and clarifications of the topics discussed in class.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Attending students may choose either to take a full oral exam based on all the materials presented in class (PowerPoint slides, passages read during the lectures, and the texts indicated in the final reading list) and aimed at evaluating their ability to read the sources, illustrate and connect their arguments, or to submit a paper on a specific topic previously agreed upon with the teacher and discuss it as part of the oral exam, during which it will be necessary in any case to demonstrate a general understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures. Students' papers must be sent by e-mail at least 5 days before the exam date, but the final evaluation will take into account both the paper and the student's ability to discuss it and answer any questions or objections raised by the teacher.

Non-attending students must take an oral exam on at least two of the above text groups and will be asked questions directly about authors and primary texts. In any case, non-attending students are recommended to get in touch with the professor before the exam in order to get more detailed information and to communicate their choice about the groups of texts they choose to study.

Students who are able to attend only part of the classes can agree with the professor on a specific program according to their needs. In this case, some additional texts can be added to the program for attending students as a supplement for a better preparation.

The first examination sessions for 2024/2025 will be held in the summer session (June and July), with further sessions to be scheduled in the autumn (September, October and at least one date between November and December) and winter (January, February and March).

Criteria of evaluation

The evaluation will consider both knowledge of the subject and the student's ability to summarize and present the various issues addressed in the texts with coherence and correct terminology.

- In order to obtain an excellent final grade, students should demonstrate their ability to correctly analyze the sources and to discuss them clearly and critically, using appropriate language and a confident understanding of the issues raised in class and in the course bibliography.

- Good or average grades will be given to students who show an acceptable knowledge of the texts, combined with a fair ability to explain their content and a general understanding of the issues discussed in class, albeit with some minor imperfections and a less than adequate lexicon.

- A basic and mnemonic knowledge of the texts and of the main points discussed in class will receive a lower or sufficient evaluation.

- An unclear or significantly inaccurate presentation of the texts and course content will be graded as insufficient to pass the exam.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

During the lectures, the teacher will use PowerPoint slides containing texts, summaries, and other materials (such as images or maps). The slides will be uploaded as PDFs on Virtuale immediately before or after each class (accessible from the "Teaching Materials" link on this page). This platform will also be used to provide additional materials, to suggest further and non-mandatory readings (also at the students' request), and to keep a dialogue between the teacher and the class.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Antonio Del Vecchio