12197 - History of Modern Philosophy (2)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at clarifying the main articulations of philosophical reflection between early modernity and the Age of Enlightenment. Within the framework of a wide-ranging philosophical-historical investigation of the categories and figures that founded European philosophical rationality, the course focuses on the following topics: theories of experience and subjectivity: knowledge of the external world, the relationship between mind and body, mathematical knowledge, the relationship between nature, technology and history; political philosophy: variations in the doctrine of the law of nature and forms of government; the encyclopaedic debate: philosophy and systems theory in the modern age, the hermeneutics of the Enlightenment. Through the reading of texts, in translation and in the original language, for about 200 pages and through the examination of the fundamental critical bibliography, the student acquires the ability to understand a philosophical text and to grasp its meaning in a historical perspective.

Course contents

Mirrors of the Universe, Mirrors of the Mind. From the Renaissance to Modern Psychology 1

«A mirror up to nature»: the world soul and the human soul between the Renaissance and early modernity

(Prof. Elisabetta Scapparone)

This course examines the development of the metaphor of the mirror in Renaissance and early modern philosophy, focusing on its role in reflections on the world soul, the human soul and the relationship between the divine nature and human knowledge. Interacting with related images such as the eye and the shadow, the metaphor of the mirror became a powerful means of conceptualizing the natural world as a manifold reflection of a single, infinitely productive principle underlying life, animation and cosmic unity. Within a macrocosm understood as a “living mirror” of the divine, the human being as microcosm occupied a privileged position: the human soul was conceived as a distinctive reflection of the infinite principle, linked to it through a relation of ontological reciprocity and participating in both life and knowledge.

Through a selection of representative authors from the Fifteenth and Sixteenth centuries (Marsilio Ficino, Charles de Bovelles and Giordano Bruno), the course explores the diverse uses of this metaphor and its biblical and Neoplatonic sources. Particular attention will be devoted to themes including the relationship between reality and its images, the nature of animal souls, the substantive meaning of the dignitas hominis, the idea of sapientia as self-knowledge and the ambivalent role of imagination as an intermediary between bodily perception and intellectual cognition.

The final part of the course considers Montaigne’s innovative and markedly dissonant reformulation of the motif. In the Essais, the self no longer appears as a reflection of divine truth and a gateway to immutable essences, but rather as a mobile and fragmented reality whose identity can only be glimpsed through the continuous interplay of its own transformations.

   

Mirrors of the Universe, Mirrors of the Mind. From the Renaissance to Modern Psychology 2

The Idea and the Mirror. Descartes and Leibniz

(Prof. Diego Donna)

Building on the crisis of anthropocentrism inaugurated by Montaigne, already examined in the first module of the course, the second module traces the transition from the Renaissance cosmological conception, grounded in the harmony between human beings, nature, and the divine order, to the modern reflection on the relationship between thought and reality. Descartes marks the decisive turning point by redefining the conditions for grounding knowledge in the aftermath of the sceptical crisis. Through its ideas, the mens exercises an activity of distinction and ordering that is no longer subordinate to ontology; the mathesis universalis articulates a new criterion of universality based not on being itself but on the possibility of reducing the multiplicity of objects to the equivalence classes established by concepts. Leibniz, in turn, reworked the Cartesian model by making the monad the “living mirror of the universe,” that is, the expressive centre of a combinatorial order sustained by the principle of sufficient reason. In Leibniz’s Monadology, the standpoint of each monad, corresponding to its essence or “complete notion,” expresses, from its own singular perspective, the totality of relations. By following the transition from the Cartesian theory of order to the Leibnizian metaphysics of expression, the module examines the transformation of the relationship between method, knowledge, and metaphysics upon which the development of modern philosophy depends.

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

Mirrors of the Universe, Mirrors of the Mind. From the Renaissance to Modern Psychology 1

«A mirror up to nature»: the world soul and the human soul between the Renaissance and early modernity

(Prof. Elisabetta Scapparone)

 

1. During the classes will be read the following texts (or any part):

M. Ficino, Anima mundi. Scritti filosofici, a cura di R. Ebgi, Torino, Einaudi, 2021 (Section III: Dio, anima, natura, pp. 62-102);

M. Ficino, De raptu Pauli, in Prosatori latini del Quattrocento, a cura di E. Garin, Torino, Ricciardi-Einaudi, 1977, VII, pp. 931-969;

M. Ficino, Sulla vita, a cura di A. Tarabochia Canavero, Milano, Rusconi 1995 (Libro III, pp. 183-294);

C. de Bovelles, Il libro del sapiente, a cura di E. Garin, Torino, Einaudi, 1987;

G. Bruno, De la causa, principio et uno, in Id., Dialoghi filosofici italiani, a cura e con un saggio introduttivo di M. Ciliberto, Milano, Mondadori, 2000 (Dialogue II and Dialogue V, pp. 205-226 e 277-296);

G. Bruno, Lampas triginta statuarum, in Id., Opere magiche, a cura di S. Bassi, E. Scapparone, N. Tirinnanzi, Milano, Adelphi, 2000, pp. 1009-1065;

M. de Montaigne, Apologia di Raymond Sebond, in Id., Saggi, a cura di F. Garavini e A. Tournon, Milano, Bompiani, 2016, pp. 394-564.

 

2. In addition to in-depth knowledge of the texts referred to in paragraph 1, all students must read one of the following essays:

F. Brusori, La mente come specchio flessibile. Storia e preistoria dell'immaginazione produttiva tra XV e XVIII secolo, Bologna, Pendragon, 2022 (capp. I-V);

S. Carannante, Unigenita natura. Dio e universo in Giordano Bruno, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2018;

M. Ciliberto, Il sapiente furore. Vita di Giordano Bruno, Milano, Adelphi, 2020;

Giordano Bruno. Filosofia, magia, scienza, a cura di S. Carannante, G. Licata, P. Terracciano, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2019 (sections Anima e corpo, Caccia divina, Forme del sapere, Scrittoio);

T. Gontier, La questione dell’animale. Le origini del dibattito moderno, Milano, Mimesis, 2018;

P. O. Kristeller, Il pensiero filosofico di Marsilio Ficino, Firenze, Le Lettere, 1988;

N. Panichi, Montaigne, Roma, Carocci, 2010;

A. Tagliapietra, La metafora dello specchio. Lineamenti per una storia simbolica dell'immagine, Roma, Donzelli, 2023;

N. Tirinnanzi, Umbra naturae. L'immaginazione da Ficino e Bruno, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2000.

 

Further bibliographical information will be provided at the beginning of the lessons.

N.B.: The course program is the same, as for attending and not attending students. Anyway, students who cannot attend classes or who don't know Italian may contact the teacher (in office hours, and not by e-mail) to decide upon any additional or alternative readings.

 

Mirrors of the Universe, Mirrors of the Mind. From the Renaissance to Modern Psychology 2

The Idea and the Mirror. Descartes and Leibniz

(Prof. Diego Donna)

  

MONOGRAFIC COURSE

• R. Descartes, Meditazioni di filosofia prima, trad. it. di S. Landucci, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2002.

• G.W. Leibniz, Nuovi saggi sull’intelletto umano. Testo francese a fronte, trad. it. di S. Cariati, Bompiani, Milano 2011 (selected parts)

• G.W. Leibniz, Principi della filosofia, o Monadologia. Principi della natura e della grazia fondati sulla ragione, trad. it. di C. Cesa, Bompiani, Milano 2001.

 

Studies. One text of your choice:

• Jean-Luc Marion, Questioni cartesiane III. Descartes sotto la maschera del cartesianesimo, Inschibboleth Edizioni, Roma 2023.

• Giovanni Crapulli, Introduzione a Descartes, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2013

• Massimo Mugnai, Introduzione alla filosofia di Leibniz, Einaudi, Torino 2001.

• Vittorio Mathieu, Introduzione a Leibniz, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2008.

• Maria Rosa Antognazza, Leibniz: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2016.

• Audrey Borowski, Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant, Princeton University Press, Princeton (NJ) 2024.

 

N.B.: The course program is the same, as for attending and not attending students. Anyway, students who cannot attend classes or who don't know Italian may contact the teacher (in office hours, and not by e-mail) to decide upon any additional or alternative readings.

Teaching methods

The course combines traditional lectures by the instructor with direct student involvement. It is structured around sessions conducted through collective reading and open discussion.

Assessment methods

This course is offered as an "integrated teaching module." Assessment consists of two examinations, one for each module, conducted by the respective instructors. Each exam contributes to the determination of the final grade. There is no required order in which the exams must be taken; however, students are required to complete both modules, demonstrating the competencies targeted by the course. The final grade will correspond to 12 ECTS credits.

The oral exam is divided into two parts. It will take place in the offices of the respective instructors and tends to verify:

1. the historical-philosophical knowledge acquired through attendance at the lessons, the study of the basic texts and the relative bibliography
2. the degree of understanding and critical reworking of the proposed content
3. expressive skills and the ability to orient oneself among the main lines of interpretation

Attendance is considered relevant both to the learning process and to the assessment.

Exam registration is available through the ALMAESAMI platform. The dates of each exam session are posted on the respective professor’s webpage. 

 

Verification criteria
30 cum laude: excellent proof, for solidity of knowledge and critical processing skills

30: excellent proof, adequate knowledge and expressive richness

27-29: good proof, satisfactory knowledge, correct expression

24-26: discrete proof, non-exhaustive and partially correct knowledge

21-23: sufficient proof, general knowledge, confused expression

18-21: barely sufficient proof. Poor articulation and relevant theoretical gaps

<18: insufficient proof, missing or incomplete knowledge, lack of guidance in the argument.

 

Exam sessions (Prof.ssa Elisabetta Scapparone)

During the 2026/27 academic year, exam sessions are scheduled for the following months: November, January, March, May, June, September.

Exam sessions (Prof. Diego Donna)

During the 2026/27 academic year, exam sessions are scheduled for the following months: December, January, March, May, June, September, October.

 

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)
Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders 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: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

It is recommended that students contact the University office in advance. Any proposed adjustments must be submitted at least 15 days in advance for the instructor’s approval, who will evaluate their appropriateness in relation to the learning objectives of the course.

 

Teaching tools

Text presentations; in-depth seminars; possible individualized assignments

Office hours

See the website of Diego Donna