90068 - History of Philosophy from Renaissance to Enlightenment (2) (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's Critical Thought and Antitheology

 Module 2: The «God of Augustine» or the «God of Epicurus»: labyrinths of reason and pathways of morality in Pierre Bayle

The problem of the relationship between God and the world and the closely related issues of free will and the presence of evil in history constitute original theoretical cores of Bayle's reflection. A persistent, and troubled, conceptual knot that tightly intertwines divine providence and human history. In the Historical and Critical Dictionary this issue will eventually result in a destructive attack on Christian teodicy and the very possibility of a rational theology. In the background, the major issues and the highest voices of post-Cartesian philosophy, from Malebranche to Spinoza.

This course aims to highlight the characteristics, interlocutors and outcomes of the question posed by Bayle through the analysis of excerpts from the Thoughts on the Occasion of a Comet and some entries (such as Manicheans, Paulicians, Pyrrhonists) taken from the Dictionary.

If the problem of evil, as Voltaire will argue, constitutes the «great refuge of the atheist», the clash between  theology and atheism brought about by Bayle unflods on various fronts, even involving the question of the origin of life and the natural order, as well as the possibility of materialism. The last part of the lectures will therefore be dedicated to illustrating the characteristics of Bayle's reinterpretation of the doctrine of Strato of Lampsacus, now 'atheistic' in its position as an antitheological philosophical choice, based on the denial of a trascendent, free and good entity and on the existence of necessary natural laws, not subject to divine arbitrariness. 

 

Readings/Bibliography

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

P. Bayle, Dizionario storico-critico, a cura di G. Cantelli, Lampi di Stampa, 1999 (riprod. dell'ed. Laterza 1976);

P. Bayle, Pensieri sulla cometa, a cura di G. Cantelli, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2009:

P. Bayle, Continuation des Pensées diverses écrites à un Docteur de Sorbonne, Rotterdam 1705.

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

S. Brogi, Teologia senza verità. Bayle contro i 'Rationaux', Milano, F. Angeli, 1998;

S. Brogi, I filosofi e il male. Storia della teodicea da Platone ad Auschwitz, Milano, F. Angeli, 2006;

I filosofi e la società senza religione, a cura di di M. Geuna e G. Gori, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2011;

S. Landucci, La teodicea nell'età cartesiana, Napoli, Bibliopolis, 1986;

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

G. Mori, L'ateismo dei moderni. Filosofia e negazione di Dio da Spinoza a d'Holbach, Roma, Carocci, 2016;

S. Nadler, Il migliore dei mondi possibili. Una storia di filosofi, di Dio e del Male, Torino, Einaudi, 2009;

S. Neiman, In cielo come in terra. Storia filosofica del male, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2011;

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

Further references, in languages other than Italian, will be suggested during the first lessons. 

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 March 18, 2024.

Timetable

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

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

- Thursday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Room C, 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 the texts commented on in class;

- 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 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