72564 - Institutions of Philosophy (1) (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

The course introduces the vocabulary, the methodology and the main thematic areas of discipline and trains to the reading and critical analysis of philosophical texts. At the end of the course the student has become familiar with the vocabulary and the main tools of research in the fields of history of philosophy; He also has the basic conceptual and methodological tools to understand a philosophical text, grasp its meaning in a historical perspective, orientate in problematic issues and in the most important historiographical interpretations of the discipline.

Course contents

Causes and relations. Descartes, Spinoza, Hume

  

 The course aims to reconstruct the essential lines of modern philosophical discussion around the notion of cause. Three fundamental authors in the history of modern philosophy will be examined: Descartes who places the equivalence of cause and reason (causa sive ratio) at the centre of a new philosophy of method; Spinoza who makes the first cause the immanent cause of its effects (causa sui and causa immanens); Hume who reduces the link between cause and effect to the psychological principles that govern the 'system of man'. From the Cartesian intuition of the cogito to the circular system of relations that expresses the Spinozian causa sui, to Hume's psychology of the affections of the mind, the three philosophical paths will be investigated, which open up an new relation between thought and reality converting the theory of causality in a plural, open and structurally complex system of relations.

 

Distribution of topics in the lectures:

Of the 15 lessons available:

 

- 3 will be devoted to a historical-philosophical excursus on the notion of cause with reference to the Aristotelian-scholastic tradition in the cosmological and metaphysical spheres

- 4 will be devoted to the reading, commentary and discussion of Descartes’ Discourse on Method (Part II, VI) and Metaphysical Meditations (II-III meditazione, I Obiezioni e Risposte)

- 4 will be devoted to the reading, commentary and discussion of the First Part of Spinoza’s Ethics

- 4 will be devoted to the reading and discussion of Hume’s Treatise on Human Nature (Book I - Part III)

Readings/Bibliography

OBLIGATORY READINGS FOR ALL STUDENTS

 

1. R. Descartes, Discorso del metodo (Parti II, VI); Meditazioni metafisiche (II-III meditazione, I Obiezioni e Risposte)

Edizione italiana:

Descartes, Opere complete, a cura di G. Belgioioso, con la collaborazione di I. Agostini, F. Marrone e M. Savini, Milano, Bompiani, 2009.

2. B. Spinoza, Etica, I Parte

Edizione italiana:

Spinoza, Etica, introduzione, traduzione e note di D. Donna, Santarcangelo, Rusconi, 2021.

3. D. Hume, Trattato sulla natura umana (Libro I - Parte III)

Edizione italiana:

D. Hume, Trattato sulla natura umana, a cura di E. Lecaldano, Bari, Laterza, 2008.

 

Two texts of choice:

P. Dessì, Causa/effetto, Bologna, il Mulino, 2012

F. Laudisa, Causalità. Storia di un modello di conoscenza, Roma, Carocci, 1999

M. Mori, Libertà, necessità, determinismo, Bologna, il Mulino, 2001

A. Funkenstein, Teologia e immaginazione scientifica dal Medioevo al Seicento, trad. it. Torino, Einaudi, 1996

D. Donna, Norma, segno, autorità. Filosofia, teologia e politica in Spinoza, Bologna, BUP, 2019 

P.-F. Moreau, Spinoza. La ragione pensante. Una guida alla lettura, Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1998 

A. Santucci, Sistema e ricerca in David Hume, Bari, Laterza, 1969

G. Deleuze, Empirismo e soggettività, trad. it. Napoli, Cronopio, 2012.

 

ADDITIONAL READINGS for non-attending students

E. Scribano, Guida alla lettura delle Meditazioni metafisiche di Descartes, Bari, Laterza, 2006

E. Scribano, Guida alla lettura dell'Etica di Spinoza, Bari, Laterza, 2008

A. Santucci, Introduzione a Hume, Bari, Laterza, 1971

 

Teaching methods

The course combines frontal teaching by the lecturer and direct participation by the students. It is divided into meetings conducted according to the didactic mode of common reading and open dialogue.

Assessment methods

Attendance of the entire course corresponds to 6 credits.

The oral examination, which takes place in the lecturer’s office, tends to test

1. the historical-philosophical knowledge acquired through attending lectures, studying the texts and bibliography included in the syllabus, contextualising the analysis within the framework of long-term traditions;

2. the level of assimilation and critical-conceptual elaboration of the proposed contents

3. the property and congruity of the linguistic expression of the various topics examined

4. the ability to orientate between the main interpretative and historiographical lines.

The examination offers a further opportunity for discussion and dialogue with the lecturer, a dialogue that the student is invited to open also during the lectures and seminars, intervening in the first person by requesting clarifications or proposing in-depth studies. In this sense, students are also invited to propose for examination particular subjects close to the topics of the course itself.

 

Verification criteria

30 cum laude. Excellent, for solidity of knowledge and critical processing skills

30: excellent. Adequate knowledge and expressive richness

27-29: good. Satisfactory knowledge, correct expression

24-26: discrete. Non-exhaustive and partially correct knowledge

21-23: sufficient. General knowledge, confused expression

18-21: barely sufficient. Poor articulation and relevant theoretical gaps

<18: insufficient. Missing or incomplete knowledge, lack of guidance in the argument.

 

The registration for the exam is online on the ALMAESAMI website

Teaching tools

The course makes use of the traditional bibliographical tools of philosophical research (indexes, dictionaries, bibliographical directories), as well as tools developed in the course of the lectures. Parts of the texts read in class will be made available

Office hours

See the website of Diego Donna