85027 - History of Philosophical Culture (1)

Learning outcomes

he course intends to provide useful conceptual tools and specific methodological knowledge for the analysis of significant traditions, texts and figures in the historical and philosophical context and in the history of Western culture.

Course contents

The cunning of Prometheus:

Marx, Pavese and Schmitt, between myth and philosophy

 

This course will be dedicated to the figure of Prometheus and in particular to the philosophical meaning that his myth represents in some contemporary interpretations.

First of all, the general outlines of the history of the myth of Prometheus will be provided, with particular reference to Hesiod and Plato. The course will then focus on three authors (a philosopher, a poet and a jurist), who will be used as an example of three different attitudes with which to look at the Promethean myth.

 

Workshop

The course will include an integrative workshop on the figure of Prometheus in the history of philosophy and in the history of theatre.

The final programme of the workshop will be announced before the start of the course.

Students who participate will be entitled to prepare only two, rather than three, critical texts for the final exam from those indicated at Point B of the reading list.

 

Worshope shedule:

 

• Lucia Floridi, Il mito di Prometeo nel mondo greco. Variazioni comico-satiriche (15.02.2024, ore 15.00 - aula D, via centotrecento)
  

• Alessandra Beccarisi, Il potere civilizzatore della saggezza. Il mito di Prometeo secondo Boccaccio e Ficino (22.02.2024, ore 15.00 - sala rossa, via Azzo Gardino 23)

• Enrico Pitozzi, La permanenza dell'arcaico sulla scena contemporanea (28.02.2024, ore 15.00 - sala rossa, via Azzo Gardino 23)

• Epikore, Prometeo - Note dall'Antropocene (29.02.2024, ore 15.00 - teatro DAMSLab, Piazzetta Pasolini 5b)

 

Starting date: 31st January 2024

 

Wednesday 15:00 - 17:00, classroom I (Via Zamboni 38)

Thursday 15:00–17:00, Classroom D (Via Centotrecento)

Friday 13:00–15:00, Classroom C (Via Centotrecento)

 

Readings/Bibliography

A. Primary readings:

• Selected Parts from the following texts *:

(1) Karl Marx, La differenza tra la filosofia naturale di Democrito e la filosofia naturale di Epicuro, in Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Opere complete (MEOC), vol. I 

 

(2) Cesare Pavese:

(2.1) Dialoghi con Leucò, Einaudi, Torino 1965 segg.

(2.2) La letteratura americana e altri saggi, Einaudi 1951 segg. (or Saggi sul mito, La noce d'oro, Rocca di Papa [RM] 2021)

 

(3) Carl Schmitt:

(3.1) Ex captivitate salus, Adelphi, Milano 1993

(3.2) Glossarium, Giuffré, Milano 2001

(3.3) Tre possibilità di una immagine cristiana della storia, "Universitas", 1950

(3.4) L'epoca delle neutralizzazioni e delle spoliticizzazioni, in Id., Il concetto di politico, in Id., Le categorie del politico, il Mulino, Bologna 1972

(3.5) Corollario 1. Rassegna dei diversi significati e funzioni del concetto di neutralità politica interna dello Stato, in in Id., Il concetto di politico, in Id., Le categorie del politico, il Mulino, Bologna 1972

* See Teaching Resources

 

B. Critical readings (3 texts of your choice) **:

 

 (1) One Text of your choice:

1a: On myth and philosophy

H. Blumenberg, Elaborazione del mito, il Mulino, Bologna 1991, pp. 25- 364

Id., Il futuro del mito, Medusa, Milano 2002

E. Cassirer, Filosofia delle forme simboliche, vol. 2: Il pensiero mitico, La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1964

P. Philippson, Origini e forme del mito greco, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 1983

J.-P. Vernant, Mito e pensiero presso i greci, Einaudi, Torino 1970

 

1b: On Prometheus

H. Blumenberg, Elaborazione del mito, Bologna 1991, pp. 365 segg.

R. Trousson, Le thème de Prométhée dans la littérature européenne, Librairie Droz, Ginevra 1964

J. Duchemin, Prométhée. Le mythe et ses origines, Les Belles Lettres, Paris 1974

K. Kerényi, Prometheus. Die menschliche Existenz in griechischer Deutung, Rowohlt, Zurigo 1959 [or: Prometheus : Archetypal Image of Human Existence, Bollinghen, New York 1963]

Id., Prometeo: il mitologema greco dell'esistenza umana, in Id., Miti e misteri, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2000, pp. 150-208

 

(2) One Text of your choice:

Esiodo, Teogonia, Einaudi, Torino 2023

Id., Opere e giorni, Garzanti, Milano 2020

Eschilo, Prometeo incatenato con i frammenti della trilogia, Rizzoli, Milano 2004

Platone, Protagora, BUR, Milano 2010

Luciano di Samosata, Prometeo o il Caucaso, in Id., Tutti gli scritti, Bompiani, Milano 2007

P.B. Shelley, Prometeo liberato, in Opere, Einaudi, Torino 1995, pp. 212-393 (oppure: Prometeo slegato, Einaudi, Torino 1997)

M. Shelley, Frankenstein, Einaudi, Torino 2016

F. Condello (a cura di), Prometeo. Variazioni sul mito. Eschilo, Goethe, Shelley, Gide, Pavese, Marsilio, Venezia 2011

 

(3) One Text of your choice:

A. Schmidt, Il concetto di natura in Marx, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1973

C. Galli, Lo sguardo di Giano. Saggi su Carl Schmitt, il Mulino, Bologna 2011

M. Lanzillotta, Cesare Pavese. Una vita tra Dioniso ed Edipo, Carocci, Roma 2022

 

** Two, rather than three, for students who participate to the Workshop

 

The programme is the same both for students who attend the lectures and those who don’t.

 

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures with discussions in class of the most crucial issues

 

Assessment methods

The final oral exam focuses on the programme’s material and will be held in Professor Imbriano’s office: via Barberia 4.

The student will be examined on their knowledge of fundamental concepts, their level of analysis and critical skills.

On the basis of these three principal parameters an overall evaluation is expressed out of a total of 30.

 

Evaluation of level:

18-21 Low/Sufficient

22-25 Medium

26-28 Good/very good

29-30 High

30 L Excellent

 

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

 Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders have the right to special accommodations according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the teacher but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adaptations. For more information, visit the page:

https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Teaching tools

Traditional lectures with the support of Power Point

 

Office hours

See the website of Gennaro Imbriano