04402 - History of Contemporary Philosophy

Learning outcomes

The student is able to acquire knowledge of history of contemporary philosophy. In particular, it is able to read philosophical works of the last two centuries contextualizing them within a more general cultural universe. He also acquired critical skills and awareness of the philosophical issues of our time.

Course contents

Kant and Socialism

The Critique of practical reason in German Neokantianismus (1877-1911)

The course focuses on the interpretation of Kant's Critique of Practical Reason in German philosophy in the 19th and 20th century, analysing neo-Kantian and social democratic perspectives (Hermann Cohen, Eduard Bernstein, and Karl Vorländer).

The first half of the course will be dedicated to Kant, and the second part will include a study of the following thinkers: Hermann Cohen (with specific reference to Kants Begründung der Ethik [1877]), Eduard Bernstein (Die Voraussetzungen des Sozialismus und die Aufgaben der Sozialdemokratie [1899]), and Karl Vorländer (Kant und Marx [1911]).

Particular attention will be paid to the difference between the approach of neo-Kantian authors to the problem of socialism and the perspective of dialectical Marxism, with regard to the historical, cultural and philosophical context.

Workshop

The course will include an integrative workshop on the development of neo-Kantian socialism in Austria (Adler, Bauer) and the Marxist critique of these perspectives (with a particolar focus on Rosa Luxemburg and György Lukács).

 

Workshop schedule:

 

• Giacomo Marramao, Il fattore oggettivo della soggettività. L’eresia del marxismo viennese (23.03.2023, ore 15.00 - Teatro DAMSLab, Piazzetta Pasolini 5b)

• Giorgio Cesarale, Dialettica, filosofia e critica del riformismo nel pensiero di Lukács (04.04.2023, ore 15.00 - Teatro DAMSLab, Piazzetta Pasolini 5b)

• Sandro Mezzadra, Rosa Luxemburg. Riforma e rivoluzione (20.04.2023, ore 15.00 - sala rossa, via Azzo Gardino 23)

• Massimo Cacciari, Etica e socialismo. Tra Kant e Marx (27.04.2023, ore 16.00 - Auditorium DAMSLab, Piazzetta Pasolini 5b)
  

 

Students who participate in the lectures will be entitled to prepare three, rather than four, critical texts for the final exam from those indicated at Point 2 of the reading list.

 

Starting date: 1st February 2023

 

Wednesday 13:00 - 15:00, classroom IV (via Zamboni 38) [from 23th March 2022: classroom D (via centotrecento)]

Thursday 09:00–11:00, classroom I (via Zamboni 38)

Friday 09:00–11:00, classroom IV (via Zamboni 38)

 

Readings/Bibliography

1. Primary reading:

 

A. KANT

Selected Parts of: *

• Critica della ragion pura, Utet, Torino 1967

• Fondazione della metafisica dei costumi (in Scritti morali, Utet, Torino 1970 - or in Critica della ragion pratica e altri scritti morali, Utet, Torino 2014)

• Critica della ragion pratica (in Scritti morali, Utet, Torino 1970 - or in CdRP e altri scritti morali, Utet, Torino 2014)

 

B. Selected Parts  of these texts: *

Hermann Cohen, La fondazione kantiana dell'etica, Milella, Lecce 1983

AA. VV., Marxismo ed etica: testi sul dibattito intorno al "socialismo neokantiano" [1896-1911], ed. it. a cura di Emilio Agazzi, Feltrinelli, Milano 1975

Eduard Bernstein, I presupposti del socialismo e i compiti della socialdemocrazia, Laterza, Bari 1974

Karl Vorländer, Kant und der Sozialismus unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der neuesten theoretischen Bewegung innerhalb des Marxismus, Berlin 1900 [**]

Id., Kant und Marx. Ein Beitrag zur Philosophie des Sozialismus, Tübingen 1926 [**]

 

* See Teaching Resources

** In Italian (See Teaching Resources)

 

2. Critical Readings (4 Texts of your choice):

 

2.1 One Text of your choice:

Augusto Guerra, Introduzione a Kant, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2010

Otfried Höffe, Immanuel Kant, il Mulino, Bologna 2010

Eric Weil, Problemi kantiani, QuattroVenti, Urbino 1980

Filippo Gonnelli, Guida alla lettura della Critica della ragion pratica di Kant, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1999

 

2.2 One Text of your choice: 

Thomas E. Willey, Back to Kant. The revival of kantianism in German social and historical thought 1860-1914, Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1978

Hans-Ludwig Ollig, Der Neokantianismus, Metzler, Stuttgart 1979

Gianna Gigliotti, Il neocriticismo tedesco, Loescher, Torino 1983

Massimo Ferrari, Introduzione a il neocriticismo, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1997

 

2.3 One Text of your choice:

Giorgio Ridolfi, Figure del socialismo neokantiano. Tra rigore morale, ragione giuridica e realtà politica, Giappichelli, Torino 2015

H. Holzey (a cura di), Ethischer Sozialismus. Zur politischen Philosophie des Neukantianismus, Frankfurt a.M. 1994

H. van der Linden, Kantian Ethics and Socialism, Indianapolis 1988

A. Zanardo, Marxismo e neokantismo in Germania fra Ottocento e Novecento, in Id, Filosofia e socialismo, Roma 1974, pp. 73-164

 

2.4 One Text of your choice:

Alberto Burgio, Strutture e catastrofi. Kant Hegel Marx, Editori Riuniti, Roma 2000

E. Hobsbawn et al. (a cura di), Storia del marxismo, vol. II (Il marxismo nell'età della Seconda Internazionale), Einaudi, Torino 1979: (a) Iring Fetscher, Bernstein e la sfida dell'ortodossia, pp. 235-274; (b) Andrew Arato, L'antinomia del marxismo classico: marxismo e filosofia, pp. 693-757

S. Petrucciani (a cura di), Storia del marxismo, vol. 1 (Socialdemocrazia, revisionismo, rivoluzione [1848-1945]), Roma 2015: (a) Nicolao Merker, Ortodossia e revisionismo nella socialdemocrazia, pp. 33-72; (b) Id., L'austromarxismo e i marxismi eterodossi, pp. 147-168; (c) Giorgio Cesarale, Filosofia e marxismo tra Seconda e Terza Internazionale, pp. 169-228

Manfred B. Steger, The quest for evolutionary socialism : Eduard Bernstein and social democracy, Cambridge, Cambridge university press, 1997

 3. Basic skills

For the oral exam, knowledge of the fundamental authors and themes regarding the history of philosophy between the 19th and 20th centuries is required.

 

List of themes and authors:

Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Feuerbach, sinistra hegeliana, Marx, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Comte, Nietzsche, Croce, Gentile, Wittgenstein, Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, Sartre, Lukács, la Scuola di Francoforte, Althusser, Deleuze, Foucault, Derrida, Arendt, Rawls.

 

Students can refer to one of these handbooks:

Lucio Cortella, La filosofia contemporanea. Dal paradigma soggettivista a quello linguistico, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2020

Giuseppe Cambiano, Massimo Mori, Storia e antologia della filosofia, Laterza, Roma 1993 segg.

Fabio Cioffi et al., Il testo filosofico, Milano, Mondadori 1992 segg.

Mario Dal Pra, Sommario di storia della filosofia, La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1987

Vladimiro Giacché, Filosofia dell'ottocento. Dall'idealismo al positivismo, Diakros 2022

 

The programme is the same both for attending and not attending students.

 

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures with discussions in class of the most crucial issues

 

Assessment methods

The final oral exam focuses on the programme’s material and will be held in Professor Imbriano’s office: 5.06 - Via Zamboni, 38.

The students will be examined on their knowledge of fundamental concepts, their level of analysis and their critical skills.

On the basis of these three principal parameters an overall evaluation is expressed out of a total of 30.

Evaluation of level:

18-21 Low/Sufficient

22-25 Medium

26-28 Good/Very good

29-30 High

30 L Excellent

Teaching tools

Traditional lectures with the support of Power Point

 

Office hours

See the website of Gennaro Imbriano