30413 - Philosophy Laboratory (1) (G.H)

Learning outcomes

The student learns to read and critically analyze philosophical texts and to write a philosophical essay.

Course contents

Kant's Problem of Metaphysics

Through the reading and commentary of the Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Present Itself as a Science, the workshop aims to focus on some of Kant’s main theses, considered from both a historical and theoretical point of view. The fundamental concepts on which we will focus will be: categories, the a priori, the transcendental, metaphysics, ontology, and dialectics.

Readings/Bibliography

Primary literature:

· Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Come Forward as Science, Laterza 1996 (or any other edition).

Kant, Logica, Laterza 2004 (or any other edition).

Kant, Critica della ragion pura (“Architettonica della Ragione”, selected passages will be made available on Virtuale).

Notes and handouts will be progressively uploaded to the ‘teaching materials’ section (‘Virtuale’).

Teaching methods

The Laboratorio will be structured as follows:

Of the 15 lessons available:

· 3 lessons will be dedicated to writing philosophical essays (illustration of the rules of philosophical writing and argumentative analysis: recognising and supporting arguments, identifying weaknesses in arguments, etc.) and bibliographic research.

· 12 lessons will be devoted to the discussion and commentary of Kant’s Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (selected passages indicated in class).

Students, divided into groups, are invited to give oral presentations to the class on topics of interest to them, based on the topics covered in the workshop, as agreed with the teacher.

 

Assessment methods

Students will be assessed on the basis of:

• participation in classroom discussion;
• individual presentations (carried out alone or in teams);
• a final written essay (min. 12,000 characters, max. 15,000 characters, including spaces and excluding bibliography) to be sent by email to the lecturer at least 15 days before the date of the examination call. The essay, linguistically and stylistically correct, must concern topics addressed during the Workshop.

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD):

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Difficulties have the right to special adjustments according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the instructor but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adjustments. For more information, visit the page .

Teaching tools

PowerPoint slides with text and images to aid understanding of the topics; Virtuale.

Office hours

See the website of Emanuele Mariani