39424 - History of Contemporary Philosophy (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The subject of the History of Contemporary Philosophy is the still open horizon of a reflection that, in the 20th century, has been changing. Its aim is to introduce the student to the themes of a post-metaphysical thought which, while characterising the latest developments in philosophical debate and extending into the most diverse cultural spheres, are rooted in the experience of man today. The ideas of the end of the subject, the death of God, the overcoming of the foundation, and the denunciation of logocentrism, which decide contemporary philosophy, and are also embodied in our existence, will, from time to time, be at the centre of the course. The aim, then, is to introduce the student to a past that is being asserted in the present. Precisely because it has as its object the world in which we are involved, the course aims to contribute to the student's acquisition of awareness and critical capacity.

Course contents

Genesis and Structure of Philosophical Systems I.

Event and History: Martial Gueroult and Michel Foucault

 

Seldom employed in philosophical discourse, the term structure was codified in France between the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century within the emerging human sciences. In anthropology, Claude Lévi-Strauss – drawing on Émile Durkheim – interprets structure through matrimonial rules, economic relations, and the symbolic functions of art, science, and religion that regulate social combinations. In linguistics, Roman Jakobson – building on Ferdinand de Saussure’s Cours de linguistique générale – traces the system of language to the differential relations between signifier and signified. In psychoanalysis, the encounter between structural linguistics and the theory of the symbolic order leads Jacques Lacan to conceive the psychic and affective dimensions as structured like a language, productive of meaningful elements.

The first part of the course explores key aspects of the debate that gave rise in France to a critical history of philosophical systems, beginning as early as Condillac’s Traité des systèmes, where the notion of system is mobilized to dismantle classical metaphysics. The second part focuses on the consequences of this development within twentieth-century historiography of philosophy, particularly in the work of Martial Gueroult. A scholar of Fichte, Descartes, and Spinoza, Gueroult founded a new discipline – Dianoematics – defined as the investigation of the conditions of possibility for a history of philosophical doctrines. His is an “archaeological” undertaking aimed at uncovering the essential structures of philosophical systems, or “monuments”, and restoring their architectural coherence. The transformation of historical documents into monuments philosophiques, and the archaeological analogy it presupposes, will later be taken up by Michel Foucault in his archéologie du savoir.

Between critique and structural analysis, the histoire de la philosophie à la française redefines the relations between truth and error, reason and imagination, thought and sensibility, consciousness and history, challenging the norms of both positivism and idealism, as well as phenomenologically inspired philosophies of the subject and of consciousness. It is a history of philosophy shaped by the transfer of methods and models across disciplinary boundaries, in continuous dialogue with the social sciences and oriented toward the construction of a future encyclopedia.

Readings/Bibliography

Required Reading (for attending and non-attending students)

 

Monografic Course

• Condillac, Trattato dei sistemi, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1977, pp. 3-27.

• Martial Gueroult, Storia e tecnologia dei sistemi filosofici, Napoli, Orthotes 2024 (pagine scelte).

• Michel Foucault, L’archeologia del sapere. Una metodologia per la storia della cultura, Milano, Rizzoli, 1999 (pagine scelte).

• Michel Foucault, Le parole e le cose. Un’archeologia delle scienze umane, Milano, Rizzoli, 1988 (pagine scelte).

• Michel Foucault, Theatrum Philosophicum, Milano, Mimesis, 2022.

 

Studies

Two texts of your choice:

G. Rametta, Dianoematica e storia della filosofia in Martial Gueroult, in Storia e tecnologia dei sistemi filosofici, Napoli, Orthotes 2024, pp. 173-203.

M. Laerke, Structural Analysis and Dianoematics: The History (of the History) of Philosophy according to Martial Gueroult, "Journal of the History of Philosophy", LVIII, 3 (2020), pp. 581-607.

D. Donna, Dispersione ordine distanza. L’Illuminismo di Foucault, Luhmann, Blumenberg, Macerata, Quodlibet, 2021.

D. Donna, Contre Spinoza. Critique système et métamorphoses au siècle des Lumières, Genève, Georg, 2020, pp. 157-204.

M. Iofrida, D. Melagri, Foucault, Roma, Carocci, 2017.

S. Moravia, Lo strutturalismo francese, Firenze, Le Lettere, 2019.

C. Compiani, R. Panattoni, La casella vuota. Sulla struttura, Napoli, Orthotes, 2025.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures and reading of texts in the classroom, together with discussion of the most important topics and direct participation of the students.

Assessment methods

The attendance of the entire course corresponds to 6 credits. The programme is unique for both attending and non-attending students.

The oral examination takes place in the teacher's studio and tends to verify:

1. the historical-philosophical knowledge acquired through attendance at the lessons, the study of the basic texts and the relative bibliography
2. the degree of understanding and critical reworking of the proposed content
3. expressive skills and the ability to orient oneself among the main lines of interpretation

Attendance is considered relevant both to the learning process and to the assessment.

Exam registration is available through the ALMAESAMI platform. The dates of each exam session are published on the Professor’s webpage.

 

Verification criteria
30 cum laude: excellent proof, for solidity of knowledge and critical processing skills

30: excellent proof, adequate knowledge and expressive richness

 27-29: good proof, satisfactory knowledge, correct expression

24-26: discrete proof, non-exhaustive and partially correct knowledge

21-23: sufficient proof, general knowledge, confused expression

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

<18: insufficient proof, missing or incomplete knowledge, lack of guidance in the argument

 

Exam sessions

During the 2025/26 academic year, exam sessions are scheduled for the following months: November, December, January, March, May, June, July, September, October.

 

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 instructor but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adjustments. For more information, visit the page: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

It is recommended that students contact the University office in advance. Any proposed adjustments must be submitted at least 15 days in advance for the instructor’s approval, who will evaluate their appropriateness in relation to the learning objectives of the course.

Teaching tools

A collection of texts will be made available to articulate the debate on the legacy of the debate on systems in the history of modern and contemporary philosophy.

Office hours

See the website of Diego Donna