90767 - Aesthetics and Cultures of the Twentieth Century

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has the basic tools for understanding the general articulation of the main moments of XX century theoretical and practical culture that had a great impact non only on art experience, but on aesthetic experience as a whole; he/she can contextualize and interpret the main contents of the most relevant cultural currents both cronologically and in their interaction, with a specific focus on wide-spread aestheticity phenomena, and hence on the development of fashion; the studenti s able to deal with both textual and extra-textual relatively difficul materials.

Course contents

Philosophy as self-cultivation

The lesson course aims at discussing the idea of philosophy as a “way of life”, as an “art of living”, as a “way of being”. The starting point will be a classic of 20^th Century philosophical thought: Spiritual Exercises and Ancient Philosophy by Pierre Hadot. In his scholarly discussion of Hellenistic and Roman philosophical schools (Socratism, Platonism, Aristotelism, stoicism, cynicism, skepticism), Hadot stresses that their highest purpose wasn’t a purely theoretical knowledge of the world, but a transformation of oneself, a “philosophical conversion”. The philosopher is he who tries to get as close as possible to a wisdom that is ultimately unattainable, but that nonetheless builds an “ideal rule”. The philosophical transformation of the self is centered on the meditation of death and the attention for the present. This doesn’t lead to an individualistic withdrawal in oneself, but instead to a fuller participation of the human being to the cosmos: the exercise of wisdom aims at a reintegration of the ego in the world and in the universal.

If modern philosophy tends to become a theoretical and abstract discipline confined in universities, there still are according to Hadot some thinkers that witness an experience of philosophy as full existential commitment. Among these a special role is played by Nietzsche, that together with Kierkegaard con be considered one of the main influences on 20^th Century existentialism. By resorting to some aphorisms of the Gay Science we will try to point out that for Nietzsche philosophy always entails a form of cura sui, the paradigm of which is the artwork created by the artist. In a very similar way to how the artist shapes the artwork, the human being is called upon to shape his own life and to develop a style. But in Nietzsche the need of self-cultivation and of self-perfection doesn’t end up in a radical perspectivism or relativism: it remains closely intertwined with a wider, more comprehensive view of things, that to some degree take the universal into consideration. This aspect will be explored mainly through Nietzsche’s interpretation of Socrates and Goethe – two historical figures that are very relevant for Hadot as well.

Readings/Bibliography

Pierre Hadot, Esercizi spirituali e filosofia antica, tr. it. di Anna Maria Marietti, Einaudi, Torino 2005 (only the following chapters: Esercizi spirituali, La figura di Socrate, La filosofia come maniera di vivere, Riflessioni sulla nozione di cultura di sé, Il saggio e il mondo, La filosofia è un lusso?).

Friedrich Nietzsche, La gaia scienza, tr. it. a cura di Carlo Gentili, Einaudi, Torino 2015 (aphorisms 12, 54, 84, 107, 120, 276, 290, 318, 324, 344).

Friedrich Nietzsche, Il crepuscolo degli idoli, nota introduttiva di Mazzino Montinari, tr. it. di Ferruccio Masini, Adelphi, Milano 1983 (only the following chapters: Il problema di Socrate e Scorribande di un inattuale).

Alberto Giacomelli, Tipi umani e figure dell’esistenza. Goethe, Nietzsche e Simmel per una filosofia delle forme di vita, Mimesis, Milano 2021, pp. 103-254.

Francesco Cattaneo, Sul pathos della conoscenza. Nietzsche e la saggezza tragica, in «Logoi» IX, 22, 23 [available here: http://logoi.ph/edizioni/numero-ix-22-23].

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures.

Assessment methods

The exam will be a written test (a questionnaire consisting of multiple choice questions). The test will be based on 31 questions.

The questions included in the written test will assess both the capacity of the student to understand the main theoretical and critical issues concerning the topics discussed in the books.

Teaching tools

All the aforementioned texts (in the specified editions) are an essential tool in order to actively participate in the classes. It is recommended to get hold of the texts before classe because specific parts will be read and commented.

Some other texts will be distributed through the channels offered by the Unibo portal.

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Cattaneo