B2365 - Political Philosophy (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

This course focuses on the major topics, ideas, problems and authors of Western Political Philosophy and its history. Through a direct reading of primary sources, as well as secondary sources, and the use of commentaries, dictionaries, lexica and other working tools, the student will be introduced to the history and theory of concepts such as Democracy, Power, Representation, Social and Political conflict, Violence and Negotiation, Authority and Sovereignity. Upon successful completion of this course, the students will have acquired critical skills such as to appreciate primary sources in their own historical and cultural context, to identify basic conceptual elements of the texts, to formulate meaningful questions about them and to discuss ideas and thesis about them, to ground one’s argument in the direct reading of sources, to compare and contrast texts as well as to shuttle between different periods and historical contexts.

Course contents

The Philosophy of '77: Biopolitics, Schizoanalysis, and Materialist Feminism

Fifty years to the day after its eruption, the 1977 movement remains one of the most radical and theoretically consequential events of the twentieth century. In this course we will reconstruct certain aspects of the philosophical thinking bound up with that movement, taking as our point of departure the nexus between the theory and practice of revolution — a nexus understood as constitutively inseparable. Situating ‘77 within the broader horizon of the international post-‘68 — from the French May to national liberation movements, from feminism to postcolonial thought — the course engages, through close reading of texts by three central authors and a number of significant secondary figures, with some of the key problems the movement raised: biopolitics, schizoanalysis, and materialist feminism, together with certain practical ramifications that explicitly rejected the mediation and representational logic of conventional politics. ‘77 — historically foreclosed and politically defeated — does not present itself as a theoretically exhausted episode; rather, it appears as the simultaneous deflagration of all the forms inherited by the modern political subject, including its revolutionary ones — a crisis whose political consequences have lost none of their urgency.

NB: Non-attending students in FILO or other departments who have already chosen a dissertation topic (in any discipline) may arrange an examination programme that is partially or entirely alternative to the one listed here and coherent with their dissertation topic, by contacting the instructor well in advance.

Readings/Bibliography

The syllabus consists of the reading of the following texts:

Foucault, M., Microfisica del potere, Einaudi, Torino 1977.

Foucault, M., Nietzsche, Marx, Freud (1967), in Archivio Foucault. Interventi, colloqui, interviste vol. I. 1961-70, Feltrinelli, Milano 1996, pp. 137-46.

Foucault, M., Theatrum philosophicum (1970) Mimesis, Milano 2022.

Foucault, M., Le problème de la culture: Un débat Foucault-Preti (1972) in G. Preti, Umanismo e strutturalismo, Liviana, Padova 1973, pp. 149-162.

Foucault, M., La vita degli uomini infami (1977), in Archivio Foucault. Interventi, colloqui, interviste vol. II. 1971-77, pp. 245-62.

Foucault, M., Dialogo sul potere (1978), in M. Foucault, Biopolitica e liberalismo. Detti e scritti su potere ed etica, 1975-1984, introduzione, traduzione e cura di O. Marzocca, Milano 2001, pp. 41-60.

Foucault, M., Intervista con M. Foucault, in D. Trombadori, Colloqui con Foucault, 10/17 cooperativa editrice, Salerno 1981, pp. 17-96.

Foucault, M., Le maglie del potere (1981), Archivio Foucault. Interventi, colloqui, interviste vol. III. 1978-85, pp. 155-71.

Foucault, M., L’éthique du souci de soi comme pratique de la liberté (1984), in Dits et Ecrits IV, pp. 708-29, anche in Archivio Foucault. Interventi, colloqui, interviste vol. III. 1978-85.

Deleuze, G. e Guattari, F., Mille piani, Castelvecchi, Roma 1980.

Wittig, M., Il pensiero eterosessuale, Ombre corte, Verona 2019.

Two texts of groups of texts from the following list:

Franco Berardi (Bifo), Dell’innocenza. Interpretazione del Settantasette, Agalev, Bologna 1989.

Angela Davis, Donne, razza e classe, Alegre, Roma 2018.

Guy Debord, Commentari sulla società dello spettacolo, SugarCo, Milano 1990.

Frantz Fanon, I dannati della terra, Einaudi, Torino 1975.

Agnes Heller, La teoria dei bisogni in Marx, Feltrinelli, Milano 1974.

Rosa Luxemburg, Sciopero di massa, partito e sindacati, Newton Compton, Roma 1977.

Mario Mieli, Elementi di critica omosessuale, Einaudi, Torino 1977.

Malcolm X, Con ogni mezzo necessario. Discorsi e interviste, ShaKe, Milano 1997.

Karl Marx, Lineamenti fondamentali di critica dell’economia politica («Grundrisse»), Einaudi, Torino 1976.

Antonio Negri, Marx oltre Marx. Quaderno di lavoro sui Grundrisse, Feltrinelli, Milano 1979.

Antonio Negri, I libri del rogo, DeriveApprodi, Bologna 2024.

Mario Tronti, Operai e capitale, DeriveApprodi, Roma 2006.

Raoul Vaneigem, Trattato di saper vivere ad uso delle giovani generazioni, SEB, Milano 1996.

Paolo Virno, «Sull’arte di dire no. General intellect e lavoro vivo», in Esercizi di esodo, Ombre corte, Verona 2002, pp. 161-209 + «Virtuosismo e rivoluzione», in Mondanità. L’idea di mondo tra esperienza sensibile e sfera pubblica, Manifestolibri, Roma 1994, pp. 87-114 + «Moltitudine e principio di individuazione», in Quando il verbo si fa carne. Linguaggio e natura umana, Boringhieri, Torino 2003, pp. 185-97.

Non-attending students are required to add the reading of one text of their choice from the following:

Nanni Balestrini, Primo Moroni, L’orda d’oro (1968-1977). La grande ondata rivoluzionaria e creativa, politica ed esistenziale, Feltrinelli, Milano 1988.

Marcello Tarì Il ghiaccio era sottile. Per una storia dell’autonomia, DeriveApprodi, Roma 2012.

Michael Hardt, Settanta sovversivi. La globalizzazione delle lotte, DeriveApprodi, Bologna 2025.

For further study on individual themes and authors, the following classic reference works may be consulted:

Ludovico Geymonat, (a cura di), Storia del pensiero filosofico e scientifico. Garzanti, Milano 1970.

Luigi Firpo (a cura di). Storia delle idee politiche, economiche e sociali, UTET, Torino 1972.

Teaching methods

This module is based on the critical reading of primary sources, their commentary supported by secondary sources, and the discussion and active participation of students.

The course will be taught entirely in Italian.

Assessment methods

Assessment takes place through an oral exam.

Course attendance is not mandatory. Students can choose whether to take the exam as ‘attending’ or ‘non-attending’ students. Only in the first case is knowledge of what was discussed in class during lessons assumed, while in the second case the exam focuses exclusively on the content of the texts.

Exam sessions are scheduled (always and in any case for all students, without any restrictions), indicatively, in the months of May, July, September, November, January and March.

Please regularly check the exams' calendar for extra-exam sessions.

Teaching tools

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.

Office hours

See the website of Filippo Del Lucchese