39423 - History of Modern Philosophy (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The lectures allow the student to interpret the main nodes of European thought in the XV-XVIII centuries and to identify the intersections with other areas of Western culture. Knowledge of the main interpretative and historiographical lines of early modern philosophy and the concept of modernity will enable students to recognise the themes and projections of early modern thought in contemporary philosophical debate and to trace the origins of themes and long-standing problems.

Course contents

                  Trinity, Annunciations, p. Greek
          The visualization of the infinite and God
                     in early modern philosophy

In the classical world and the Latin-Christian Middle Ages, the infinity open to philosophy and science is ‘that outside of which there is always something’. A potential infinity to which more can be indefinitely added (apeiron for the Greeks), a symptom of incompleteness and associated with the negative, with the hybris of Greek myth or with the sin in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Another thing was the actual infinity, which Aristotle defined as ‘that which admits nothing outside itself’: an absolute maximum always in act, which in monotheistic religions was mostly made to coincide with the divine principle, incomprehensible to a human mind, by its very nature finite.
In the 15th century, a metaphysics of the infinity became urgent, as a prerequisite for being able to think, in gnoseological and physical terms, about an infinite universe and a relocation of the human point of view.

Through Nicolaus Cusanus's De docta ignorantia, the course will examine how
a) starting from the potential infinity represented by the series of natural numbers, an absolute maximum was made thinkable, beyond which nothing could be;
b) mathematics (irrational numbers, quadrature of the circle, etc.) and mysticism (the dogma of Christ's incarnation) made it possible to imagine the actual infinite and how Italian painting of the 14th and 15th centuries, in the Annunciations and in the revisitations of the Christian iconography of the Throne of Grace, authorised us to visualise it.

Readings/Bibliography

All students are required to know: 

Nicola Cusano, La Dotta ignoranza, in Niccolò Cusano, Opere filosofiche, teologiche e matematiche, Torino, Bompiani, 2017, pp. 1-305 
and
Nicola Cusano, La Dotta ignoranza, in Niccolò Cusano, Opere filosofiche, teologiche e matematiche, Torino, Bompiani, 2017, pp. 1-305

They are also required to read one of the following works. Students not attending class are required to read two of the indicated books:
- G. Cuozzo e T. Leinkauf, Le dialettiche del Rinascimento. Natura, mente e arte da Nicola Cusano a Leonardo da Vinci, Milano, Mimesis, 2021
- A caccia dell'Infinito. L'umano e la ricerca del divino nell'opera di Nicola Cusano, Roma, Aracne editore, 2010
- D. Arasse, L’annunciazione italiana. Una storia della prospettiva, Firenze, La Casa Usher, 2009
- E. Panofsky, La prospettiva come forma simbolica, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1991 (o successive edizioni)

Teaching methods

The course consists of 15 lectures.
Due to the 'magisterial' nature of the course, attending students will be asked to undertake individually short critical analysis papers on themes or authors relevant to the programme, agree with the teacher. These papers will be valid for assessment purposes and may replace several from the examination programme.

Assessment methods

Oral examination: Students are recommended to bring the texts when examining.The interview focuses mainly on analysis and critical interpretation of the sources.
Students who have attended lectures may agree on exams (whether written or oral) devoted to specific topics.

Assessment criteria and thresholds of evaluation:

30 cum laude - Excellent as to knowledge, philosophical lexicon and critical expression.

30 – Excellent: knowledge is complete, well argued and correctly expressed, with some slight faults.

27-29 – Good: thorough and satisfactory knowledge; essentially correct expression.

24-26 - Fairly good: knowledge broadly acquired, and not always correctely expressed.

21-23 – Sufficient: superficial and partial knowledge; exposure and articulation are incomplete and often not sufficiently appropriate

18-21 - Almost sufficient: superficial and decontextualized knowledge. The exposure of the contents shows important gaps.

Exam failed - Students are requested to show up at a subsequent exam session if basic skills and knowledge are not sufficiently acquired and not placed in the historical-philosophical context.

Teaching tools

At the conclusion of each 'chapter' of the course (every 3-6 lessons) the topics and issues addressed will be summarised and outlined through short presentations accessible online.

Students with learning disorders and/or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Annarita Angelini