06992 - Philosophical Anthropology (A-L)

Learning outcomes

Philosophical anthropology is typically meant as the reflective study of what it means to be human, i.e. of the specific character of human beings, both as naturally determined and historically formed. Being a philosophical activity, this study includes, of course, the critique of theories about human nature, as well as the very notion of there being a human nature at all. As a discipline, philosophical anthropology is not to be confused with the particular historical school, self-styled "philosophical anthropology", which was developed in German philosophy from the 1920s to 1960s by thinkers like Plessner, Gehlen, etc. -- although this school is certainly a part of philosophical anthropology.

Course contents

This syllabus and the corresponding exam are for students with surnames A to L. Students with surnames M to Z will refer to the course taught by Prof. Santarelli. The general part of the two courses is similar.

Switching from one group to the other is not permitted, except in the case of international students whose stay in Italy coincides with only one of the two courses.

 

In this course, anthropology will be approached from a philosophical point of view and with philosophical methods. However, in order to help non-philosophy students to attend and profit from the course, I will try and avoid technicalities as far as possible, or I will explain them as we go along. Anthropology students are encouraged to ask for clarifications (preferably at the end of each class). I may ask philosophy students to answer the questions.

The course consists of three units. The following main topics will be addressed:

First Unit: Key concepts for the epistemology of anthropology

• a tentative definition of 'philosophical anthropology';
• a tentative definition of culture for human and nonhuman animals;
  
• elucidation of some main concepts in the epistemology of the human sciences: explanation/understanding, causes/reasons, affordances, anomaly/analogy.

Second Unit: some philosophical accounts of human nature from antiquity to modern age

• Nature/culture dichotomy and the attacks on it, both from naturalistic philosophy and from the so-called "ontological turn" in today's anthropology.
• A special focus on the following historical topics (including analyses of texts): Herodotus' and Protagoras' forms of relativism; the origin of the concept of nature; Aristotle's naturalistic anthropology; the anthropology of the Renaissance (Pico, Erasmus); Cartesian dualism and the scientific revolution; Wittgenstein's critique of positivist anthropology.

Third Unit: evolutionism and anthropology

• A sketch of the theory of evolution and of the notions of adaptation and natural selection;
• Evolutionism and ethical naturalism;
• Neo-Darwinism and its critics;
• Sociobiology and its ethical claims;
• The notion of exaptation and non-adaptationist accounts of evolution.

A more detailed schedule of the contents of each class will be available on the course e-learning site (on virtuale.unibo.it).

Please contact the class tutor, Dr. Nicoletta Pennella (nicoletta.pennella2@unibo.it), for clarifications concerning exams and organisation of the class.

Readings/Bibliography

Visiting students are free to refer to the English (or other language) editions of these readings, if available. The texts that exist only in Italian may be replaced with texts in other languages: please contact me for arrangements.

Mandatory readings:

1. Readings provided by teacher (in Italian, approx. 240 pp.), and available from the course website [To appear on virtuale.unibo.it. I can provide English versions of some of these readings. Please do not circulate without permission.]
   
2. Roberto Brigati e Valentina Gamberi, a cura di, Metamorfosi. La svolta ontologica in antropologia, Macerata: Quodlibet, 2019 [this is free for Unibo users: insert your credentials in login.ezproxy.unibo.it/menu and search "E-Book"].
3. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Note sul "Ramo d'oro" di Frazer, trad. it. Milano: Adelphi, 1975 (the Italian edition includes a useful essay by J. Bouveresse, "Wittgenstein antropologo", whose original edition is in French. I am not aware of English translations);
4. One of the following groups:

Group 1: Ancient relativism [texts can be provided by teacher]

• Alfredo Ferrarin, “Homo Faber, Homo Sapiens, or Homo Politicus? Protagoras and the Myth of Prometheus”, The Review of Metaphysics, 54, 2, December 2000, pp. 289-319

• Adolfo Levi, “Studies on Protagoras”, Philosophy, 15, 58, April 1940, pp 147-167; “The Ethical and Social Thought of Protagoras”, Mind, 49, 195, July 1940, pp. 284-302.

• Francesco Remotti, “Il nodo delle somiglianze e il destino dell’etnologia. Protagora, Erodoto, Platone”, Teoria politica, Annali VII, 2017, pp. 315-343.

• Caterina Parisi, “I popoli tra ‘natura e cultura’ nelle Storie di Erodoto”, Archivio Antropologico Mediterraneo, 14, 1, 2012, pp. 15-25.

• Angelica Fago, “Le Storie di Erodoto: lo sguardo del logos sul mondo. Interesse antropologico e bisogno di auto-rimemorazione”, Storia, antropologia e scienze del linguaggio, XXXVI, n. 1-3, 2021, pp. 181-208.

 Group 2: Michael Tomasello's evolutionary anthropology

• Michael Tomasello, Le origini culturali della cognizione umana, trad. it. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2005 [orig. The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition, Harvard UP, 1999; ch. 5 & 6 are optional];
• Michael Tomasello, Diventare umani, Milano: Cortina, 2019 [orig. Becoming Human. A Theory of Ontogeny, Harvard UP 2019].

Group 3: Wittgenstein and anthropology [texts can be provided by teacher]

• Marilena Andronico, Antropologia e metodo morfologico. Studio su Wittgenstein, Napoli: Città del Sole, 1998;
• Fabio Dei, "Usanze sinistre e profonde: Wittgenstein, Frazer e la magia", in L’uomo, IV, n.s., 1, 1991, available from fareantropologia.cfs.unipi.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/1991-Usanze-sinistre-e-profonde.pdf.
• Silvana Borutti, "La rappresentazione tra logica e esperienza: le ragioni filosofiche dell’antropologia di Wittgenstein", in Ugo Fabietti, a cura di, Il sapere dell'antropologia. Pensare, comprendere, descrivere l'Altro, Milano: Mursia, 1993, pp. 241-262.

Group 4: Different views of evolutionism

• Antonella Tramacere, Introduzione alle psicologie evoluzionistiche, Bologna: Biblioteca CLUEB, 2022;
  
• Richard Dawkins, Il gene egoista, Milano: Mondadori, 1992 [orig. The Selfish Gene, Oxford UP 1976].
• Stephen J. Gould, Il pollice del panda, Milano: Il Saggiatore, 2016 [orig. The Panda's Thumb, Norton 1992].
  

Group 5: Environmental and trans-specific anthropology

• Eduardo Kohn, Come pensano le foreste. Per un'antropologia oltre l'umano, trad. it. di Alessandro Lucera e Alessandro Palmieri, Milano: Nottetempo, 2001 [orig. How Forests Think, University of California Press, 2013].
  
• Jakob von Uexküll, Biologia teoretica, a cura di L. Guidetti, Macerata: Quodlibet, 2015 [there is a 1926 English transl., available on archive.org].

Group 6: The Ontological Turn in today's anthropology

• Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Prospettivismo cosmologico, Macerata: Quodlibet, 2019 [orig. Cosmological Perspectivism in Amazonia and Elsewhere, HAU Masterclass Series, 2012].
• Fabio Dei, Luigigiovanni Quarta, a cura di, Sulla svolta ontologica. Prospettive e rappresentazioni tra antropologia e filosofia, Roma: Meltemi, 2021.

All non-attending students will add:

• Andrea Borghini, Elena Casetta, Filosofia della biologia, Roma: Carocci, 2013.

 

Optional readings:

Students who are not familiar with philosophical concepts and language may refer to a number of introductory and reference texts, e.g. The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, available free to Unibo users at: http://www2.sba.unibo.it.ezproxy.unibo.it/cgi-bin/bdati/banchedati.pl?type=sch&cod=1105626341. A standard resource is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessible free at https://plato.stanford.edu/

Since lessons will be entirely in Italian, visiting students may want to familiarize themselves with Italian philosophical usage, by referring to some standard philosophical dictionaries such as Nicola Abbagnano, Dizionario di Filosofia, revised by G. Fornero, Torino: UTET, various reprints.

A good handbook of the history of philosophy is also recommended, such as (in Italian) Luca Guidetti, Giovanni Matteucci, Le grammatiche del pensiero. Corso di filosofia, 3 vols., Bologna: Zanichelli, 2012. Visiting students may refer to handbooks in their own language.

Philosophy students who need to get acquainted with the basics of cultural anthropology may refer to S. Allovio, L. Ciabarri, G. Mangiameli (a cura di), Antropologia culturale. I temi fondamentali, Milano: Cortina, 2018, or any other handbook in their own language.

Further readings for your personal interest:

-Arnold Gehlen, L'uomo. La sua natura e il suo posto nel mondo, a cura e con una prefazione di Vallori Rasini, Milano: Mimesis, 2010 [orig. Der Mensch, 1940; there is an English transl.].

-Stefania Consigliere (a cura di), Mondi multipli. Vol. I: Oltre la grande partizione. Vol. II: Lo splendore dei mondi, Tricase: Kaiak/Youcanprint, 2014.[anthology]

- Philippe Descola, Oltre natura e cultura, a cura di Nadia Breda, Milano: Cortina, 2021.

Teaching methods

The course will mainly consist of frontal lessons and teacher-led discussions. Some simple questions or exercises might be proposed. Student-led discussions and online activity are encouraged. You may raise your hand in class (or on the online platform in case of remote attendance due to health safety restrictions) and there will be a discussion forum on virtuale.unibo.it as well.

You will be requested to read at least some of the mandatory readings during the course, both in order to foster comprehension and to be able to do the assigned exercises. I recommend to download the Reading materials from virtuale.unibo.it and to buy or get the required books from libraries before the beginning of the course.

On 16 February there will be a guest teacher, Prof. Roberto Marchesini (on Animal Subectivity, in Italian). Day and venue may change, please check the News section on Virtuale.

If there are further events organised at the Department that in my judgment might be of interest, I will inform you and invite you to participate (optionally, of course).

I will be grateful to Erasmus and other exchange students who plan to attend the course if they get in touch with me before the beginning of classes.

In the last class, I will ask 3-4 students to volunteer for presenting their paper, however unpolished, to the class. This is optional, but it's a useful exercise, to test your argument and get feedback from your colleagues. Presentations will be in Italian: but, even if your command of the Italian language is not perfect, I encourage you (i.e. exchange students) to try. Everyone will appreciate your effort.

Assessment methods

The exam is meant to ascertain:

• students' knowledge of the assigned texts;
• their understanding of the main views of human nature in philosophy;
• their ability to clearly present a philosophical-antropological topic;
• their ability to criticize and discuss the proposed topics.

The exam can be taken in one of two ways:

A) by writing a final paper, in Italian, 3000 to 4200 words. Papers will be graded on a 30/30 scale. Deadlines will be announced in due course. I can accept papers in English (or French, German, Spanish), but I encourage exchange students to test themselves and write the paper in Italian. Of course I shall make allowance for the additional linguistic difficulties faced by non-Italian speakers.

I shall provide a short manual of style specifying the main lines of the Italian system of citation, footnotes, essay structure. Feel free, however, to use your own university's guidelines, especially if you write in English. I shall also provide a list of topics, which you may variously combine, provided the paper maintains a clear unity and line of argumentation.

B) Alternatively, students may take a viva voce examination (in Italian), which is also an additional option for students who fail the written paper. At the exam, you will be asked to present a topic of your choice, among the many offered by the course. Be ready to speak around 15 minutes. You may use notes, have the readings at hand, and any resource you may need. The presentation of the chosen topic will span about two thirds of the exam. I might then add a few questions about other topics within the scope of the readings or lessons.

Students' contributions to discussion in class and on the online forum (see under "Teaching tools") is welcome and will be duly considered in the final evaluation.

The following criteria will weigh on the paper's evaluation (and, mutatis mutandis, on the viva):

1. Understanding of the relevant texts (correct content comprehension, detection of the texts' most relevant notions and deeper significance): up to 12/30.
2. Correct writing (applicable if the paper is in the student's mothertongue) i.e. spelling, punctuation, syntax, command of general and philosophical vocabulary: up to 6/30.
3. Clarity, pertinence, good structure of the paper: up to 5/30.
4. Logical consistency and soundness of argumentation: up to 4/30.
5. Originality and personal reflection: up to 3/30;
6. Participation in class or online discussions: up to 1/30.

Please note that the highest mark is 30 cum laude; below 18 thirties the exam is failed.

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders have the right to special adjustments 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

There will be a course-related site on the Unibo e-learning platform (virtuale.unibo.it). All students are required to subscribe.

The site will feature a discussion forum, event calendar, study topics and tools, and will be used for teacher-students communication and, possibly, the distribution of homework.

I shall also be uploading, on a weekly basis, the slides I will show during classes.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Brigati