29424 - Seminars (1) (LM) (G.F)

Learning outcomes

The Philosophy Seminars have as their educational objectives those specific to seminar teaching: (1) to train students in philosophical argumentation by soliciting discussions on the topics and texts, including in the original language, presented in meetings with Italian and foreign scholars; (2) to broaden and deepen philosophical knowledge through participation in lectures given by specialists in the various fields of philosophical knowledge; (3) to compare the different methodological approaches to philosophy as a complement to curricular teaching.

Course contents

Philosophies at the End of the Century

The seminar will take place during the third and fourth teaching periods (second semester). It will consist of presentations and collective discussions of philosophical essays published during the last two decades of the twentieth century, selected for their common engagement with the themes of the end of history and postmodernity.

The seminar will begin with an introductory lecture, during which the main issues addressed in the texts listed in the bibliography will be presented and discussed.

At the end of the introductory session, the assigned readings will be distributed among the students, who will be responsible for presenting and discussing them during the subsequent meetings, according to a schedule to be agreed upon collectively.

Some sessions will be led by invited guest speakers, who will contribute to the discussion by addressing topics related to the seminar's main themes.

The principal aims of the seminar are, on the one hand, to assess each participant's ability to provide accurate and well-structured syntheses of complex philosophical texts and, on the other, to encourage all participants to engage actively in interpretation, discussion, and critical analysis.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1979), University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 1984;

2. Peter Sloterdijk, Critique of Cynical Reason (1983), University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 1987;

3 Weak Thought (1983), edited by Gianni Vattimo and Pier Aldo Rovatti, State University of New York Press, Albany (NY) 2012;

4 Jürgen Habermas, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures, MIT Press, Cambridge MA 1987;

5. Donna J. Haraway, A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century (1985), Routledge, New York 1991;

6. David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change, Blackwell, Oxford 1989;

7. Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Routledge, New York 1990;

8. Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and Ambivalence, Polity Press, Cambridge 1991;

9. Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina 1991;

10. Edward W. Said, Culture and Imperialism, Chatto & Windus, London 1993;

11. Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture, Routledge, London, 1994;

12. Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (1995), Stanford University Press, Stanford 1998.

Teaching methods

The seminar requires the active participation of all students. Each session will begin with brief presentations delivered by students on the books included in the course bibliography. The presentations will be followed by a collective discussion coordinated by the instructor.

The seminar is open to all students and has no enrollment limit. However, students who intend to participate are kindly requested to inform the instructor by email before the seminar begins.

 

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders are entitled to special adjustments according to their condition, subject to assessment by the University Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact teachers or Department staff, but make an appointment with the Service. The Service will then determine what adjustments are specifically appropriate, and get in touch with the teacher. For more information, please visit the page:
https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Assessment methods

Attendance will be assessed based on the quality of individual and group contributions throughout the course. Participation in the seminar is mandatory. A maximum of two absences is allowed. Students who wish to attend the seminar are kindly asked to register by sending an email to the instructor.

Teaching tools

Texts and materials related to the topics covered during the seminar sessions will be published on the seminar’s Virtuale page.

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Cerrato