30413 - Philosophy Laboratory (1) (G.A)

Learning outcomes

The student learns to read and critically analyze philosophical texts and to write a philosophical essay.

Course contents

General information

The Philosophy Workshop has three main purposes: education to philosophical writing and editorial conventions; introduction to the use of bibliographic resources; introduction to how to read a philosophical classic and how to produce a short philosophical essay about it.

The success of workshops ideally requires regular attendance of all students at all meetings. In order to be admitted to the final exam and achieve a pass, students will need to have attended at least 12 out of 15 classes (24 hours out of 30).

Students can choose from several proposals of Philosophy Workshops. Programmes and teachers’ names are available on the website of the First Cycle Degree/Bachelor in Philosophy (corsi.unibo.it/1cycle/Philosophy ). Up to 40 students may attend each laboratory. Classes will be given in Italian or in English, as indicated by each teacher on their laboratory web pages.

To enrol in a workshop, please access Studenti On Line (studenti.unibo.it/sol/welcome.htm) with your Unibo credentials, click on "Prenotazioni" and select the workshop you are interested in. Registrations will open on 1st September 2023 at 9 a.m. and will close automatically after the first 3 classes of each workshop. It will only be possible to register for one workshop at a time. Each list will accept a maximum of 40 registrations.

Attendance — both face-to-face and online, if streaming is activated — will be verified by signature on sign-in sheets or by log-in online. In the light of several deplorable episodes of signature falsification in recent years, in the event that it is proved that even a single signature has not been made by the corresponding student, that student will be excluded from the final exam and will have to wait until the next year to attend the Workshop again. The same standards will hold for students submitting written exams which are totally or partially copied from published sources or digital texts.

Only in the event of certified inability to attend the Workshop are students allowed to arrange an alternative programme with the relevant teacher of the module in question. Such cases include:

- working students who cannot obtain specific permission to attend the Workshop. These students shall inform the teacher at the beginning of the module and provide a declaration of their employers stating their inability to attend.

- students who are participating in exchange programmes (Erasmus, Overseas, etc.). These students shall promptly provide documentary evidence to the teacher showing their inability to attend on grounds of residence abroad.

For attending students, assessment will consist in the submission and discussion of a short essay on the philosophical text discussed in the Workshop attended. The essay will be evaluated both for form and for content. During the laboratory, teachers will provide instructions on how to write the final essay, and all students are requested to download and study the manual of philosophical writing, which can be found at corsi.unibo.it/laurea/Filosofia/laboratorio-di-filosofia-norme-per-la-redazione-del-saggio-finale (in Italian).

Title of the Laboratory (Andrea Gatti).

THE CONCEPT OF NATURE IN JOHN STUART MILL

The workshop will focus on a critical reading of John Stuart Mill's essay On Nature. Written in 1850-58, Mill’s essay takes a critical stance towards a tradition of thought that had considered the concept of nature according to heterogeneous meanings, between classicism and romanticism.

In his essay, Mill employs a highly effective argumentative strategy to defend an unprecedented ontological perspective on nature. The text is also closely related to nineteenth-century artistic theories and practices, as well as to widespread epistemologies of his and our time.

Readings/Bibliography

1) Mandatory text:

John Stuart Mill, La natura, in Saggi sulla religione, trad. it. di L. Geymonat, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2006, pp. 13-52.

2) One text to be chosen from the following:

A.O. Lovejoy, L’albero della conoscenza, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1982, only pp. 105-114 (ch. 5. “«Natura» come norma estetica”).

A. Gatti, Natura e risentimenti. John Stuart Mill e la critica all’estetica del sublime e del pittoresco, in Natura e sentimenti, a cura di R. Milani, Segrate (MI), Nike, 2000, pp. 163-178.

Teaching methods

The workshop will be structured as follows:

3 introductory lectures devoted to philosophical essay writing (rules of philosophical writing and argumentative analysis: recognising and supporting arguments, identifying argumentative weaknesses, etc.) and bibliographical research.

6 lectures on the main themes of Mill's essay On Nature.

6 seminar-structured sessions during which the students, divided into groups, will present to the class a critical analysis of some of the topics discussed in the workshop. These topics will be chosen in agreement with the teacher.

Assessment methods

Students will be assessed by means of

- class exercises and individual presentations (individually or in coordinated groups).

- a final written paper (min. 12,000 characters, max. 15,000 characters, spaces and bibliography excluded) to be handed in by e-mail at least 15 days before the exam date. The paper must deal with one of the topics discussed in class and it must be linguistically and stylistically correct.

 

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

Further readings will be made available through the channels provided by the Unibo portal.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Gatti