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

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. Please enrol via Studenti On Line (studenti.unibo.it/sol/welcome.htm), by clicking on the tab "Prenotazioni" and the workshop of your choice. Enrolment begins on the 1st of September, 2023.

Classes will be given in Italian or in English, as indicated by each teacher on their laboratory web pages. Further instructions on how to enrol in laboratories will be issued in due course. Please refer to the Laurea in Filosofia website for updates. 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)

Readings/Bibliography

The workshop will be based on the relevant part of Diogenes Laertius' Lives, in Italian translation:

• Diogene Laerzio, Vite e dottrine dei più celebri filosofi, a cura di G. Reale, testo greco a fronte, Milano: Bompiani, 2005 [Libro VI (Antistene e cinici)].
  

Some further reading material might be provided by the teacher during the workshop.

Further recommended readings for papers and presentations:

• Michel Foucault, Il coraggio della verità. Il governo di sé e degli altri II. Corso al Collège de France (1984), Milano: Feltrinelli, 2011.
• Peter Sloterdijk, Critica della ragion cinica, Milano: Garzanti, 1992.
• Louisa Shea, The Cynic Enlightenment: Diogenes in the Salon, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2010.
• D.S. Mayfield, Artful Immorality. Variants of Cynicism: Machiavelli, Gracián, Diderot, Nietzsche, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015.
• Roberto Brigati, Introduzione al cinismo, Bologna: Biblioteca CLUEB, 2022.
  

There are more complete collections in English and French that may be useful:

Robin Hard, ed., Diogenes the Cynic. Sayings and Anecdotes, Oxford UP, 2012.

Robert Dobbin, ed., The Cynic Philosophers from Diogenes to Julian, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2012.

Léonce Paquet, introd., trad. et notes, Les Cyniques grecs. Fragments et témoignages, Paris: Les Livres de Poche, 1992.

Teaching methods

Lectures (face to face); exercises; discussion; guided presentations by students (single or groups).

The language of this activity is Italian. Exchange students who are not fluent in Italian can contact me for further explanations in English, but I won't be able to offer extensive individual tutoring.

No previous knowledge of ancient Greek is required.

Three classes shall be dedicated to an introduction to philosophical essay writing; one class to bibliographic research on libraries and Unibo databases.

Then I'll dedicate three classes to an introduction to the text and the context. I may add a further optional lesson if needed and if you feel the need.

After a reasonable interval, there will follow eight classes where you will present (in groups of 4-5 persons) your essays in progress, or whatever aspect may have caught your interest in texts and lectures.

A detailed schedule of classes will be provided in due course.

Assessment methods

To obtain the expected ECTS, students will have to:

• do a short presentation in the second part of the workshop (in group)

• write a final essay of 2900 to 4000 words on topics that shall be approved by the teacher (individually).

Exchange students may write the essay in English, but the presentation shall be in Italian.

The following criteria will weigh on the paper's evaluation:
1. Understanding of the relevant texts.
2. Correct writing and editing of the paper.
3. Clarity, pertinence, good structure of the paper.
4. Logical consistency and soundness of argumentation.

Teaching tools

Slides will be available on virtuale.unibo.it.

Classes will be recorded and available on the Unibo platform. Access is restricted to students enrolled in the workshop.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Brigati