90064 - History of Philosophy from Renaissance to Enlightenment (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide depth knowledge on modern philosophical culture of the period that goes from fifteenth to the eighteenth century, with particular interest for Renaissance philosophical texts, seventeenth century philosophy and and Enlightenment philosophy. In this perspective, which focuses on modernity and its origins, specific themes will be examined and classical texts questioned, contextualizing their analysis in the framework of long-term traditions, but also underlining moments of crisis and rupture with the past. The aim of the course is to allow students to autonomously face the reading of philosophical texts in a historical perspective; to perceive the relevance of historiographical and methodological questions related to periodization and polarity between continuity and disruption; to know the main lines of modern and contemporary historiography, acquiring, at the same time, the awareness of the problematic nature and complexity of philosophical research.

Course contents

Course Title: Knowing pain: bodily experience, illness and the human condition in Renaissance philosophical autobiography

In the second half of the Sixteenth century autobiographical philosophical writing, while retaining its character as an exploration of interiority, developed new features - notably a distinct language of corporeality and an increased emphasis on the interdependence of mind and body. These developments reflect a theoretical framework that had moved beyond Platonizing ontologies and extended well beyond the notion of a simple 'history of a soul'. In authors such as Girolamo Cardano and Michel de Montaigne, the body ceases to be merely an object of discipline and instead becomes the principle of individuation, the locus of experience and memory, and a privileged site of self-knowledge. Questions concerning the body - its status, passions, excesses, transformations and vulnerabilities - thus become central to an inquiry into personal identity and the boundaries of the self, conceived as an individualized reflection of the human condition.

Against this background, the course proposes a reading itinerary that begins with the works of Cardano and Montaigne and culminates in an examination of melancholy, the characteristic 'disease' of the soul in early modernity, understood as rooted in an imbalance of the body. The topic will be explored through three authors who are exemplary in different respects: Marsilio Ficino, whose writings inaugurated a new understanding of the melancholic temperament and its relationship to creativity; Torquato Tasso, whose letters and dialogues composed at Sant’Anna offer an extended reflection on the boundaries between reason and madness; and Robert Burton, author of The Anatomy of Melancholy, a veritable world-book on the subject, informed by significant personal engagement.

Readings/Bibliography

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

G. Cardano, Della mia vita, a cura di A. Ingegno, Milano, Serra e Riva 1982 (or, alternatively, Id., Il libro della mia vita, traduzione di S. Balduzzi, Luni editrice, 2013);

M. de Montaigne, Saggi, a cura di F. Garavini e A. Tournon, Milano, Bompiani, 2012;

M. Ficino, Sulla vita, introduzione e traduzione di A. Tarabochia Canavero, presentazione di G. Santinello, Milano, Rusconi, 1995;

T. Tasso, Lettere dal manicomio, a cura di D. Dei, con uno scritto di G. Tiraboschi, Firenze, Le Càriti, 1998;

T. Tasso, Il messaggiero, in Id., Dialoghi, a cura di B. Basile, Milano, Mursia, 2022 (or, alternatively, in Id., Dialoghi, edizione critica a cura di E. Raimondi, Firenze, Sansoni, 1958, vol. II, tomo I, pp. 247-332);

R. Burton, Anatomia della malinconia, a cura di L. Manini e A. Roselli, Milano, Bompiani, 2020.

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

Le allegre vite dei filosofi. Biografia e autobiografia filosofica nella filosofia moderna [numero monografico della rivista «Historia Philosophica», 17, 2019];

B. Basile, Poëta melancholicus. Tradizione classica e follia nell'ultimo Tasso, Pisa, Pacini, 1984;

Biografia e autobiografia. Scritture di vita dall’antichità a oggi, a cura di R. Castellana, Roma, Carocci, 2025;

A. Beyer, Il corpo dell’artista. La traccia nascosta della vita nell’arte, Torino, Einaudi, 2023

R. Klibansky-E. Panofsky-F.Saxl, Saturno e la melanconia. Studi di storia della filosofia naturale, religione e arte, Torino, Einaudi, 2002;

Figure della melancolia. Un fil noir tra filosofia, letteratura, scienza e arte, a cura di S. Bassi, M.A. Galanti, V. Serio, Roma, Carocci, 2021;

G. Minois, Storia del mal di vivere. Dalla malinconia alla depressione, Bari, Dedalo, 2005;

N. Panichi, Ecce homo. Studi su Montaigne, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2017;

Philosophy as Autobiography. The philosophical uses of self-presentation, edited by T. Mathien and D.G. Wright, New York, Routledge, 2006 (available in Pdf format);

V.I. Stoichita, Storie di corpi. Un’indagine sull’arte, la scienza, le credenze dell’età moderna, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2026;

S. Zatti, Il narratore postumo. Confessione, conversione, vocazione nell’autobiografia occidentale, Macerata, Quodlibet, 2024 (at the option of the students, Part II or Part IV).

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 consists of 15 lessons. Close reading and commentary of the texts will be complemented by in-class discussions of the most significant topics, with the active participation of students.

Given the seminar-based nature of the course, attending students will be expected to contribute either by delivering a short presentation in class or by submitting a written critical analysis on a topic or author related to the course, to be agreed upon with the instructor.

These contributions will form part of the overall assessment and may replace a portion of the examination syllabus.

The course will be held in the second semester and will start on February 1st, 2027.

Timetable

- Monday, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Room B, Via Centotrecento 18;

- Thursday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Room E, Via Zamboni 34;

- Friday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Room B, Via Centotrecento 18.

Office hours: Prof. Scapparone will receive students on Thursday, h. 3.30-4.30 p.m.

Assessment methods

Final oral examination.

Assessment criteria

The goal of the exam is to measure the achievement of the following learning objectives:

- Analysis and interpretation of the texts discussed in class;

- Knowledge of secondary literature works listed in the bibliography, combined with the ability to learn how to reference them in autonomous and critical forms;

- Knowledge of the history of Renaissance and early modern philosophy.

The student's ability to learn how to operate with confidence and autonomy within the sources and the secondary literature and the possession of a language and forms of expression appropriate to the discipline will be assessed in a particular manner.

Assessment thresholds

30 with distinction: Excellent results for the solidity of skills, wealth of critical articulation, expressive properties and maturity.

30: Excellent result: complete and well-articulated knowledge of themes addressed in lessons, with critical ideas, and illustrated with adequate expressive features.

29-27: Good result: complete knowledge and adequately contestualized, fundamentally correct presentation.

26-24: Moderate result: knowledge is present in the essential areas, though not thorough and not always articulated correctly.

23-21: Sufficient result: superficial or purely mnemonic understanding of the subject, confused articulation of the presentation, with often inappropriate expression.

20-18: Barely sufficient result: knowledge of the subject, articulation during discussions and methods of expression demonstrate considerable gaps in understanding.

< 18: Insufficient result, exam failed. The student is invited to attend a subsequent exam session where the essential skills have not been acquired, lacking the ability to orient themselves within the subjects of the course and of the same discipline and where the methods of expression demonstrate considerable gaps in understanding.

Exam schedule: during the 2026/27 academic year, exam sessions will be scheduled in the following months: November, January, March, May, June and September.

Use of Artificial Intelligence: the use of AI tools in assessment and examination activities is not permitted. Any such use will be treated as a breach of academic integrity.

Students with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) or temporary or permanent disabilities

It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance.

The office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

Slides;

Photocopies (limited to hard to find texts);

Advanced seminars;

Any individualized works.

Office hours

See the website of Elisabetta Scapparone