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: Pierre Bayle: Between Critical Thought and Antitheology

Module 1: The Renaissance according to Bayle

In the République des lettres of modern Europe - understood as a literary and scientific community constantly seeking to surpass national boundaries and cultural differences - Bayle's work represents a significant junction for the French reception of themes from Italian Renaissance philosophy, and a decisive link between the latter and the Enlightenment era.

Culturally distant from the Italian Renaissance - which he mostly knows through the mediation of the libertine tradition and Gabriel Naudé, and which he considers irreducible to the categories of post-Cartesian metaphysics and epistemology -, Bayle nonetheless holds a sustained interest in it, recovering some of its distinctive themes to transform them in light of contemporary philosophical debates. Thus, the non-benevolent portrayal of the prophet-demagogue Savonarola lays the foundation for a reflection on contemporary prophecy and fanaticism, on the political use of religion, and on imposture; the authors of Paduan Aristotelianism and the theory of double truth give rise to renewed considerations on the limits of human reason and the alternative between the exercise of rationality and the embrace of faith; the defense of Sixteenth-century philosophers accused of atheism (from Cardano to Machiavelli, to Vanini) is intertwined with a sensitivity attentive to the actual sources of morality - beyond mere formal adherence to religious practice - and to the perspective of tolerance.

The interest in updating Sixteenth-century philosophical discussions emerges prominently, and emblematically, in the Historical and Critical Dictionary entry dedicated to Giordano Bruno. Here Bruno's philosophy is presented as a key development of that naturalistic monism - now resurfacing in a new and more insidious theoretical form in Spinoza's doctrine - which Bayle seeks traces of throughout the entire Western tradition, starting from the thinkers of Elea and Plotinus.

Based on these considerations, following a brief presentation dedicated to illustrating the method, structure, and expressive style that pervade Bayle's highly elaborate pages, the course will examine selected excerpts from the Thoughts on the occasion of a comet and a series of 'Renaissance' entries in the Dictionary (Bruno, Cardano, Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Nifo, Pomponazzi, Rorario, Savonarola, Sozzini).

Readings/Bibliography

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

P. Bayle, Guicciardini, Machiavelli, Savonarola, a cura di L. Brotto, introduzione di G. Paganini, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2017;

P. Bayle, Giordano Bruno, in Immagini di Giordano Bruno, a cura di S. Bassi, Napoli, Procaccini, pp.

P. Bayle, Dizionario storico e critico: Spinoza, Milano, PGreco, 2015.

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

L. Bianchi, Tradizione libertina e critica storica. Da Naudé a Bayle, Milano, F. Angeli, 1988;

H. Bost, Pierre Bayle, Paris, Fayard, 2001;

H. Bost, Pierre Bayle historien, critique et moraliste, Turnhout, Brepols, 2006;

Costellazioni concettuali tra Cinquecento e Settecento. Filosofia, religione, politica, a cura di S. Bassi, Firenze, Olschki, 2019;

A. McKenna, Études sur Pierre Bayle. Paris, H. Champion, 2015;

G. Mori, Introduzione a Bayle, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1996;

G. Mori, Bayle philosophe, Paris, H. Champion, 2020;

G. Paganini, Analisi della fede e critica della ragione in Pierre Bayle, Milano, F. Angeli, 1980;

S. Ricci, La fortuna del pensiero di Giordano Bruno, 1600-1750, Prefazione di E. Garin, Firenze, Le Lettere, 2010;

La raison corrosive. Études sur la pensée critique de Pierre Bayle, réunies par I. Delpla et P. de Robert, Paris, H. Champion, 2003.

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.

Since it is a course/seminar, attending students will be encouraged to conduct brief individual works of critical analysis on topics or authors relating to the course contents.

These works will have value to the examination.

The course will be held in the second semester and will start on January 29, 2024.

Timetable

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

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

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

Office hours: Prof. Scapparone will receive students on Thursday, h. 16-18 p.m.

Assessment methods

Final oral examination.

Students who have attended the course will be able, if they wish, to integrate the examination with short essays or presentations on topics agreed with the teacher.

In accordance with the class, a written text on a specific part of the program could be organized. Detailed procedures about this text shall be laid down at the beginning of the course.

Assessment criteria

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

- Analysis and interpretation of Bayle's texts;

- 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.

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

Slides;

Photocopies (limited to hard to find texts);

Advanced seminars;

Any individualized works.

Office hours

See the website of Elisabetta Scapparone