92582 - Critical Reading Laboratory (C)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the workshop is to introduce participants to critical reading and comprehension of texts (from classic political science and social science books to commentary articles in daily and weekly newspapers). At the end of the workshop, students will have acquired the skills necessary to i) synthesize, outline (including in written form), contextualize, and critically analyze theoretical, historical, and methodological aspects of the text under examination (book, journal article).

Course contents

The workshop consists of reading and analyzing classic or fundamental texts on political thought and political philosophy. Particular attention will be paid to defining analytical and contextualized reading techniques, identifying central theses and argumentative strategies, critically comparing authors and concepts, and orally presenting the results of the analysis. The reference texts address topics such as power, freedom, equality, war, revolution, and peace, allowing students to investigate and interpret political dynamics and political spaces as discussed by authors of political thought over the last few centuries. Finally, these themes will be explored in relation to their context and genealogy, their thematic relationship with the present, and, more generally, their cultural and/or political reception.

Readings/Bibliography

The following texts (or parts of texts) available in libraries and/or bookshops will be read and analyzed.

Étienne De La Boétie, Discorso sulla servitù volontaria

Niccolò Machiavelli, Il Principe

Thomas Hobbes, Il Leviatano

John Locke, Il secondo trattato sul governo

Immanuel Kant, La pace perpetua

Carl Schmitt, Il concetto di ‘politico’

Hannah Arendt, Sulla rivoluzione

Michel Foucault, Sorvegliare e punire

Nicole Loraux, La città divisa

Additional reference texts will be communicated or agreed upon with the instructor during the workshop.

Teaching methods

The workshop consists of a combination of lectures by the instructor (contextualization and reading tools); practical exercises in analysis, discussion, and presentation of texts, conducted by the students; and group debates.

Assessment methods

Attendance is mandatory and therefore a prerequisite for eligibility.
Participants must demonstrate, orally, their ability to synthesize, summarize, contextualize, and critically analyze the theoretical, historical, and methodological aspects of the texts studied. In particular, active participation in laboratory activities and an individual oral presentation on a text (or part of it) agreed upon with the instructor is required to demonstrate critical reading and argumentation skills.

Teaching tools

Books, texts, and PowerPoint presentations

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Raschi