06992 - Philosophical Anthropology

Course contents

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';
• some fundamental antitheses in anthropological epistemology: explanation/understanding, causes/reasons, anomaly/analogy;
• elucidation of some main concepts: antropomorphism, ethnocentrism, naturalism.

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

• Nature/culture dichotomy and the attacks on it, both from naturalistic philosophy and from the so-called "ontological turn" in today's anthropology.
• particular attention will be devoted to 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:

• 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;
• Genetic and epigenetic, and their significance for the social sciences;
• 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 (see below).

Readings/Bibliography

(English-speaking or other visiting students are free to refer to the English editions of these readings, if available at all.)

Mandatory readings:

1. Readings provided by teacher (in Italian, approx. 200 pp.), available from the course website (https://iol.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=23769);
2. Michael Tomasello, Le origini culturali della cognizione umana, trad. it. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2005 [chapters 5-6 are optional];
3. Roberto Brigati e Valentina Gamberi, a cura di, Metamorfosi. La svolta ontologica in antropologia, Macerata: Quodlibet, 2019 [available from library and bookshops by late January, before the start of classes].
4. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Note sul "Ramo d'oro" di Frazer, trad. it. Milano: Adelphi, 1975 (including J. Bouveresse's essay "Wittgenstein antropologo").

Non-attending students (= those who miss more than 5 lessons) will add this one to the former texts:

- Riccardo Martinelli, Uomo, natura, mondo. Il problema antropologico in filosofia, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2004 (available free to Unibo users -- click "e-book" from https://login.ezproxy.unibo.it/menu).

Recommended 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.

Since classes will be entirely in Italian, exchange 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. Exchange students may refer to handbooks in their own language.

Further optional readings:
- Michael Tomasello, Altruisti nati: perché cooperiamo fin da piccoli, Torino: Bollati Boringhieri, 2010;

- Lorraine Daston, Gregg Mitman, eds., Thinking with Animals. New Perspectives on Anthropomorphism, New York: Columbia UP, 2005;

- Veena Das, Michael Jackson, Arthur Kleinman, Bhrigupati Singh, eds., The Ground Between. Anthropologists Engage Philosophy, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2014;

- Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Cannibal Metaphysics: For a Post-structural Anthropology, Engl. transl. P. Skafish, University of Minnesota Press, 2014;

- Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Prospettivismo cosmologico, trad.it. di R. Brigati e V. Gamberi, Introduzione di R. Brigati, Macerata: Quodlibet, January 2019. Orig. ed. Cosmological Perspectivism in Amazonia and Elsewhere, Manchester: HAU Masterclass Series, 2012.

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

- Jacques G. Ruelland, L'empire des gènes, ENS Editions, open access at http://books.openedition.org/enseditions/1121 [a neat discussion of sociobiology, in French];

- Telmo Pievani, Introduzione alla filosofia della biologia, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2014.

Teaching methods

The course will mainly consist of frontal lessons and teacher-led discussions. Some simple exercises might be proposed. Student-led discussions and online activity are encouraged. If the number of students is reasonable, approximately one quarter of each lesson can be dedicated to questions and discussion. However, should the questions be too many, we will have to use the online forum for this.

Please note that 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 campus.unibo.it and to buy or get the required books from the Library before the beginning of the course.

Lessons are scheduled to start January 29th, 2019. There will be 30 two-hours classes. A more detailed schedule of day-to-day readings will be indicated in due course. Please check this page for updates.

Please note that, in line with established Italian academic custom, each class will begin 15 minutes after the indicated time (this is to favour students who may come from classes held in different buildings). Punctuality is appreciated, and normally students are requested not to leave the room until the class is through with.

I may invite some guest teachers during the course, and, if there are events organized 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 intend to attend the course if they get in touch with me before the beginning of classes.

In the last class, I will ask for 3-4 students who 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 if your command of the language is good enough, I encourage 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.

Attending students will be evaluated on the basis of a final paper, in Italian, 2800 to 4000 words. The final paper is due by a date that will be indicated subsequently and will be graded on a 30/30 scale. I will make allowance for the linguistic difficulty faced by non-Italian speakers, and, if necessary, I will accept papers in English.

I will provide a short manual of style specifying the main lines of the Italian system of citation, footnotes, essay structure. I will also provide a list of topics, which you may variously combine, provided the paper maintains a clear unity.

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 readings or lessons.

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

Unlike other countries, in Italy students are allowed to take the exam without attending classes. Non-attending students will be evaluated on the viva exam only, with no paper requested but with extra-texts to study (see the Bibliography section). However, I strongly recommend exchange students to come to class on a regular basis. To be considered course-attending, students are requested to attend at least 25 lessons (50 hours).

The following criteria will weigh on the paper's evaluation:
1. Understanding of the relevant texts (correct content comprehension, detection of the texts' most relevant notions and deeper significance): 9 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: 3 to 7 /30.
3. Clarity, pertinence, good organization: 2 to 5/30.
4. Logical consistency and soundness of argumentation: 2 to 4 /30.
5. Originality and personal reflection: 2 to 3 /30;
6. Participation in class or online discussions: 0 to 1 /30.

Please note that the maximum mark is 30 cum laude; below 18/30 the exam is failed.

Teaching tools

There will be a course-related site on the Unibo e-learning platform (https://iol.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=23769). All attending 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 the distribution of homework.

I will also upload, on a weekly basis, the slides I will show during classes.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Brigati