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 goals: teaching the rules of writing and composition; an introduction on how to use bibliographic tools; an introduction on how to read a philosophy classic and the creation of a short philosophical essay on said classic.

The success of workshops is based on regular attendance of all students to all meetings In order to be admitted to the final exam and gain a pass, therefore, students will need to have attended at least 12 out of 15 classes (24 hours out of 30).

Students can choose among several proposals of Philosophy Laboratory (programs and teachers names are available on the web guide of the Degree Course of Philosophy). 35 attending students are expected for each laboratory. “Attending” means both those attending face-to-face lectures and those attending online lectures.

To enroll in the I or II semester Laboratories, students must send, by e-mail, the application to the chosen teacher (subject: Philosophy Laboratory) from 10 to 18 September, 2020. Each teacher will accept up to 35 requests. Excess requests and those submitted after September 18th will be redistributed based on the availability of vacancies.

Because of several unpleasant episodes of signature falsification occurred in the last years, in case it is proved that even a single signature has not been made by the corresponding student, such student will be excluded from the final exam and will have to wait until the next year to attend the Workshop again. For online attendings, the “participants” present at the lectures on Teams will be taken into account. The same standards will hold for students submitting written exams which are totally or partially copied from previously existing paper or digital texts. Only in case of certified impossibility to attend the Workshop students are allowed to arrange an alternative program with the corresponding teacher of the attended module. Such cases concern:

- working students who cannot obtain a specific permission to attend the Workshop. Such students must inform the teacher at the beginning of the module and prove by a declaration of their employers the impossibility of their attendance.

- Erasmus and Overseas students. Such students must promptly provide documentary evidence to the teacher showing the impossibility of their attendance due to their living abroad.

Attending and not attending students must get as soon as possible the manual of philosophical writing, which can be found on line on the web page of the Degree Course of Philosophy.

For attending students the exam will consist in the submission and discussion of a short essay on the philosophical text on which the attended Reading Workshop has been held. The essay will be assessed both concerning his form as his content.

Philosophy Laboratory (1)(G.E)

The Laboratory (1)(G.E) is conducted by Prof. Roberto Brigati and it is focussed on ancient cynicism and its legacies.

Class will start 22 September 2020. Please refer to the Italian page for detailed calendar.

Readings/Bibliography

The workshop will be based on the relevant part of Diogenes Laertius' Lives, in Italian translation:

• Diogene Laerzio, Vite e dottrine dei più celebri filosofi, a cura di G. Reale, testo greco a fronte, Milano: Bompiani, 2005 [Libro VI (Antistene e cinici)].
  

Some further reading material might be provided by the teacher during the workshop.

Further recommended readings for papers and presentations:

• Michel Foucault, Il coraggio della verità. Il governo di sé e degli altri II. Corso al Collège de France (1984), Milano: Feltrinelli, 2011.
• Peter Sloterdijk, Critica della ragion cinica, Milano: Garzanti, 1992.
• Louisa Shea, The Cynic Enlightenment: Diogenes in the Salon, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2010.
• D.S. Mayfield, Artful Immorality. Variants of Cynicism: Machiavelli, Gracián, Diderot, Nietzsche, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015.
  

There are more complete collections in English and French that may be useful:

Robin Hard, ed., Diogenes the Cynic. Sayings and Anecdotes, Oxford UP, 2012.

Robert Dobbin, ed., The Cynic Philosophers from Diogenes to Julian, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2012.

Léonce Paquet, introd., trad. et notes, Les Cyniques grecs. Fragments et témoignages, Paris: Les Livres de Poche, 1992.

Teaching methods

Please note that all classes will be given online through MSTeams.

The language of this activity is Italian. Exchange students who are not fluent in Italian can contact me for further explanations in English, but I won't be able to offer extensive individual tutoring.

No previous knowledge of ancient Greek is required.

Class will be 11 to 13, in the following days (all 2020):

22, 24, 29 September,

1, 6, 8, 13 October,

19, 20, 26, 27 November,

4, 10, 11, 17 December.

Please refer to the Italian section for a detailed calendar of classes.

Assessment methods

To obtain the expected ECTS, students will have to:

• do a short presentation in the second part of the workshop (in group)
• write a final essay of 2800 to 4000 words on topics that shall be approved by the teacher (individually).

Exchange students may write the essay in English, but the presentation will be in Italian.

Teaching tools

Slides will be available on iol.unibo. The teacher will provide copies of the readings to students who cannot get access to libraries.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Brigati