- Docente: Daniele Sgaravatti
- Credits: 6
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: In-person learning (entirely or partially)
- Campus: Bologna
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Corso:
Second cycle degree programme (LM) in
Philosophical Sciences (cod. 6242)
Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Philosophical Sciences (cod. 6805)
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from Nov 02, 2026 to Dec 16, 2026
Learning outcomes
The Philosophy Seminars have as their educational objectives those specific to seminar teaching: (1) to train students in philosophical argumentation by soliciting discussions on the topics and texts, including in the original language, presented in meetings with Italian and foreign scholars; (2) to broaden and deepen philosophical knowledge through participation in lectures given by specialists in the various fields of philosophical knowledge; (3) to compare the different methodological approaches to philosophy as a complement to curricular teaching.
Course contents
The seminar will focus on readings of several texts by one of the greatest American philosophers of the 20th century, Hilary Putnam.
In particular, we will discuss themes in the philosophy of language and mind that emerge in several essays from the collection Mind, Language, and Reality. The most famous of these is "The Meaning of 'Meaning,'" the text in which Putnam introduces the famous "Twin Earth" thought experiment. Putnam's position is semantic externalism, the idea that the meaning of words in a speaker's language depends not solely on factors "internal" to the speaker, in any useful sense, but also on the world of which the speaker is part.
Readings/Bibliography
Hilary Putnam, Mind, Language and Reality, Cambridge University Press, 1975
Teaching methods
The course consists of presentations made by the teacher on the topics covered in the seminar and, crucially, group discussions. Students will be provided with articles and passages of works to present and discuss (individually or in groups).
Assessment methods
The requirement for attendance is to participate in at least 2/3 of the lectures (10 out of 15). In order to obtain the credit points each student will have to give at least one in-class presentation on one of the readings planned for the course (details will be given in due course).
Teaching tools
Slides, handouts and follow-up materials may be used during the lessons. The material used will be made available to students through the platform virtuale.unibo.it [https://virtuale.unibo.it/
Office hours
See the website of Daniele Sgaravatti