28017 - History of Ancient Philosophy (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Students have an advanced understanding of the relevance of a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of Comparative Public Law; they are able to analyze religious phenomena seen through the lens of multiple tools from several disciplines and apply research methods to address issues relating to the discipline in question. They are able to give form to the results of their own research on Comparative Public Law, documenting in an accurate and complete way the information on which they base their conclusions and giving an account of the methodologies and research tools used.

Course contents

Soul and Body: Metaphysics of the Person in Plato and Aristotle

The course will take place in the Second Semester, Third Period.

Hours:

Wednesday, 3-5pm, Classroom C (Via Zamboni, 34);

Thursday, 3-5pm, Classroom C;

Friday, 3-5pm, Classroom C.

 

Start: Wednesday, February 13 2024, 5pm, Classroom C.

 

Course contents

One of the classic problems of philosophy, that is, the questions we continue to ask ourselves in the absence of a shared answer, is the so-called Mind-Body Problem: the question ‘What is the relationship between mind and body?’ or ‘What is the relationship between mental properties and physical properties?’. The different answers to this question give rise to as many metaphysics of the person (the possible answers to the question ‘What are we ourselves?’ or ‘What kind of thing is a person?’). In the contemporary debate, two positions in particular stand out: (i) metaphysical dualism, which postulates two fundamental components of the person: the body and the soul. The person, that is, according to the supporters of this metaphysics, is the fruit of a combination between a body and something else: a mind. And the crucial point is that the mind is conceived as something separate and distinct from the body: it is a soul, that is, an immaterial, non-physical substance; and (ii) physicalism, that is, the form of monism according to which only bodies exist and therefore a person is only a certain type of material or physical object, however special or astonishing: it is a body. According to physicalism, consequently, the soul does not exist because immaterial objects of this kind do not exist, but only perfectly functioning bodies. This is the most widespread position today, the one from which the debate on the metaphysics of the person starts.

This philosophical problem, however, has ancient roots. The way the ancient Greeks formulated it was to ask what the relationship was between the soul (psyché) and the body (soma) of a human being. The ancient concept of ‘soul’ exceeds the modern concept of ‘mind’, and in fact it is borrowed by contemporary theories to describe metaphysical dualism: the expression ‘a mind that is a soul’ means ‘an immaterial mind irreducible to the material body’. Contemporary debate often traces this theory back to Plato’s Phaedo and the opposite one, physicalism, to Aristotle’s De anima. Plato and Aristotle would therefore be the first representatives of the two currently prevalent positions, or rather Aristotle would have inaugurated the theory we consider dominant today, and would therefore be a physicalist monist, while Plato would have been the promoter of the rival theory, that is, he would have been the first dualist in history.

The aim of the course will be to verify these attributions through the “slow reading” of an anthology of passages taken from the works of the two Greek philosophers, also in light of the most recent critical literature on this topic.

 

* Any supplementary activities (conferences, seminars, etc.) will be reported on the Filosofia Antica a Bologna Facebook page.

** Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Readings/Bibliography

Texts (selected parts for attending students, one to be chosen by non-attending students)

• Platone, Fedone, introduzione e note di Cesare Lami, traduzione di Pierangiolo Fabrini, Milano: BUR, 1996; or Platone, Fedone, a cura di Franco Trabattoni, traduzione di Stefano Martinelli Tempesta, Torino: Einaudi, 2011.
• Platone, Fedro, a cura di Roberto Velardi, Milano: BUR, 2006; or Platone, Fedro, a cura di Mauro Bonazzi, Torino: Einaudi, 2019.
• Platone, La Repubblica, a cura di Mario Vegetti, Milano: BUR, 2006.
• Platone, Timeo, a cura di Francesco Fronterotta, Milano: BUR, 2003; or Platone, Timeo, a cura di Federico M. Petrucci, introduzione di Franco Ferrari, Milano: Mondadori / Fondazione Valla, 2022.
• Aristotele, Etica Nicomachea, a cura di Carlo Natali, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 1999; or Aristotele, Le tre etiche, a cura di Arianna Fermani, Milano: Bompiani, 2008
• Aristotele, L’anima, a cura di Giancarlo Movia, Milano: Bompiani, 2001.
• Aristotele, Metafisica, a cura di Giovanni Reale, Milano: Bompiani, 2004; or Aristotele, Metafisica, a cura di Enrico Berti, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2017.

Critical Readings

(A) One to be chosen:

• Shelly Kagan, Sul morire: Lezioni di filosofia sulla vita e la sua fine (2012), trad. it. di Aldo Piccato, Milano: Mondadori, 2019 (capp. I-VI).
• Anthony A. Long, La mente, l’anima, il corpo: Modelli greci(2015), trad. it. di Mauro Bonazzi, Torino: Einaudi, 2016.
• Riccardo Luccio, Dall’anima alla mente: Breve storia della psicologia, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2014.
• Giulia Mingucci, La fisiologia del pensiero in Aristotele, Bologna: il Mulino, 2015.
• Diego Zucca / Roberto Medda (a cura di), The Soul/Body Problem in Plato and Aristotle, Baden-Baden: Academia Verlag, 2019 (due contributi a scelta).

* During the course, a list of supplementary critical literature useful for writing the paper will be provided.

** To acquire or refresh one's knowledge of the history of ancient philosophy, we recommend preliminary reading of the Handbook History of Ancient Philosophy from the Pre-Socratics to Augustine (in particular the first 16 chapters: from the origins to Aristotelian logic) and the Chronological Diagram available on Virtuale.

Teaching methods

LECTURES COURSE (15 lectures)

Adopted methods:

• Slow reading of the sources in the original language and through a comparison of translations.
• Linguistic analysis and semantic fields.
• Argumentative analysis and short essays (pensum).

PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING SEMINAR (an additional 3-hour lecture)

• Editing guidelines.
• Reading essay of an ancient work: form and contents.

Assessment methods

EXAM PROGRAMME FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS

The exam (6 cfu) includes:

(1) the study of the sources analyzed during the course (see the handout uploaded on Virtuale):

(2) the study of one critical essay chosen from those listed in the section Texts/Bibliography (see above, Critical Readings, [A]); or the study of two critical essays chosen from those listed in the section Texts/Bibliography (see above, Critical Readings, [B]).

or alternatively

(2*) writing a paper (10-15 standard pages) on a topic relevant to the course to be agreed with the teacher and written according to the instructions provided during the writing seminar. The seminar handbooks will be available online (see Virtuale). The paper must be submitted by email (in two formats: docx and .pdf) one week before each exam session on the date indicated from time to time.

 

EXAM PROGRAMME FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

The students who cannot attend for legitimate reasons must replace point (1) of the exam program with the study of one ancient text chosen from those listed in the section Texts/Bibliography (see above, Texts). Points (2) of the program remain unchanged. The writing of a paper is not expected.

 

EXAM EVALUATION

The exam will be judged as sufficient overall only if the two parts it is composed of ([1] and [2]/[2*]) are both sufficient. The final grade will result from the average of the grades of the individual tests.

 

* Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office 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

• Handout with excerpts from ancient works.
• Partition diagrams and concept maps.
• Handbooks.
• Web pages.
• Databases and bibliographical repertoires.

 

* All materials will be shared in class and made available to students on Virtuale.

Office hours

See the website of Carlotta Capuccino