73081 - History of Ancient Philosophy (2) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has acquired (1) the in-depth knowledge of a philosophical work of Greek and Roman antiquity and (2) three types of skills: (a) philological – he/she can analyze an ancient text autonomously using the advanced philological tools needed for the study of Greek and Roman philosophy; (b) dialectical – he/she is trained both in seminar team work and in discussing a philosophical problem in a synchronic and diachronic way, coping with the relevant critical literature; (c) rhetorical he/she is able to argue exegetical and philosophical theses both in oral form (through common discussions and individual presentations) and in written form (according different ways of writing).

Course contents

History of Ancient Philosophy 2023-24

Boundaries Philosophy

 

ψυχῆς πείρατα ἰὼν οὐκ ἂν ἐξεύροιο, πᾶσαν ἐπιπορευόμενος ὁδόν· οὕτω βαθὺν λόγον ἔχει.

The boundaries of soul you would not be able to find, even if you traveled every path: so deep is its logos.

Heraclit. 22B45 DK

 

In August 2024, the XXV World Congress of Philosophy (Philosophy across Boundaries – Website) will be held in Rome. As a tribute to the Congress topic, my four History of Ancient Philosophy courses this year will be devoted to the philosophy of boundaries in ancient thought. Boundary would seem an eminently philosophical topic: what philosophy above all does – at least starting from Plato – is to divide and reunite, or rather to draw boundaries while reflecting, at the same time, on their nature. And it is also a subject that was particularly dear to the ancients. The Greek language knew from its origins two different words to indicate the boundary: peras, the end of the known world and, more generally, the extreme limit (something that arouses both desire and fear); and horos, the boundary stone, which by extension becomes the frontier or threshold, i.e. the intermediate limit (in a figurative sense, the distinctive criterion). The reflection of the ancients on the subject of boundary is pervasive: it affects every area of knowledge – from the physical boundaries of space and time to the ethical boundaries of human life, from the boundaries of knowledge to those between the entities that populate the world –, sinking its roots in myth: from the original separation between Heaven and Earth in Hesiod’s Theogony to the “mad flight” of Dante’s Ulysses, from the Pillars of Hercules to Hermes, messenger among gods and men. But above all, it is a continuous reflection on the dialectic between what is separated and what unites. This dialectic of the boundary will be the common horizon from which the work of the four courses will be inspired.

 

Recommended reading:

• Achille Varzi, Boundary, in Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2023), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/boundary/.

 

SFA (2) (LM) – Thinking the World: Space-Time Boundaries in Aristotle’s Physics

 

The course of History of Ancient Philosophy (2) (LM) will take place in the Second Semester, Forth Period: March 18-May 10 2024.

Hours:

Monday, 3-5pm, Classroom IV (Via Zamboni, 38);

Wednesday, 3-5pm, Classroom C (Via Zamboni, 34);

Friday, 3-5pm, Classroom B (Via Zamboni, 34).

 

Start: Monday, March 18 2024, 3pm, Classroom IV.

 

Course contents

The course will take place in seminar form and will consist in the reading, translation and commentary of some pages of Aristotle’s Physics devoted to time and place, with particular reference to their nature of limit and the aporias it raises. Aristotle’s theory of time as a limit, the now (nyn), raises the aporia of the moment of change: when, exactly, do things change? Is there such a thing as a “moment of change”? If we assume it doesn’t exist, how is it possible that something has changed without changing? We will compare Aristotle’s solution with other possible solutions proposed by ancient and modern philosophers. The place (topos) (Aristotle never speaks of space) is itself a limit: “the first immobile limit [peras] of the containing of the surrounding”. Reflecting on the place and the now as limits means, for Aristotle, thinking the world.

 

* The text breakdown will be available at the beginning of the course.

** The course will be supported by the permanent seminar Il Vento del Logos: Ancient Philosophy Today. Participation in all the meetings of the seminar will entitle you to a bonus during the examination. Program, dates and places of the meetings will be reported on the Facebook page Filosofia Antica a Bologna.

Readings/Bibliography

Text

• Aristotele, Fisica, a cura di Roberto Radice, Milano: Bompiani, 2011.

Studies

• Ursula Coope, Time for Aristotle: Physics IV. 10-14, Oxford: Oxford U.P., 2009.
• Benjamin Morison, On Location: Aristotle’s Concept of Place, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002.
• Diana Quarantotto, L’universo senza spazio: Aristotele e la teoria del luogo, Napoli: Bibliopolis, 2017.

 

* The bibliography can be supplemented during the course.

** This bibliography is valid only for attending students. Non-attending students are invited to follow the bibliographic indications provided in the exam program reserved for them (see below).

Teaching methods

SLOW READING SEMINAR (15 sessions, each of 2 hours)

Adopted methods:

• Slow reading of the sources in the original language.
• Group work.
• Drafting of a handout.
• Oral presentations.
• Group discussion.

 

PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING SEMINAR

• Editing guidelines.
• Reading essay of an ancient work: form and contents.

Assessment methods

EXAM PROGRAMME FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS

The exam includes a written and an oral test.

(1) The written test consists of a paper concerning the ancient work read and discussed during the seminar. The paper must be at least 10 maximum 15 standard Word pages, plus the bibliography and three appendices. During the seminar the details will be clarified, and a summary will be available in the guidelines uploaded among the online teaching materials (see Virtuale).

(2) The oral exam consists of: (a) a discussion of the paper (form and content); (b) the complete study of the IV book of Aristotle’s Physics and Roberto Radice’s introductory essay. (b*) Students who cannot demonstrate they have taken at least one exam into the history of ancient philosophy in their career will have to study in addition the Diagramma cronologico [Chronological diagram] (by heart) and the chapters 8 to 12 of the Dispensa di Storia della Filosofia Antica dai Presocratici ad Agostino, uploaded online on Virtuale.

 

EXAM PROGRAMME FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Students who cannot attend for motivated reasons will also have to take both a written and an oral test.

(1) The written test consists of a paper concerning the following ancient work (you need to schedule an interview with the teacher for clarification and follow the guidelines uploaded online): Aristotele, Fisica, a cura di Roberto Radice, Milano: Bompiani, 2011.

(2) The oral exam consists of: (a) a discussion of the paper (form and content); (b) the study of two essays on Aristotle’s Physics to be chosen among those listed in the course bibliography (see above). (b*) Students who cannot demonstrate they have taken at least one exam into the history of ancient philosophy in their career will have to study in addition the Diagramma cronologico [Chronological diagram] (by heart) and the chapters 13 to 15 of the Dispensa di Storia della Filosofia Antica dai Presocratici ad Agostino, uploaded online (see Virtuale).

 

EXAM EVALUATION

The exam will be considered overall sufficient only if the two exam tests (written and oral) will be both sufficient. The final mark will result from the average of the marks of each single exam test.

Teaching tools

• Handouts.
• Partition diagrams and concept maps.
• Handbooks: (1) Norme di redazione per un saggio breve [Editing guidelines for a short essay]; (2) Seminario di scrittura filosofica [Philosophical writing seminar].
• TLG, databases and bibliographical repertoires.

Office hours

See the website of Carlotta Capuccino