12359 - History of Philosophy (1)

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students acquire knowledge to deepen the philosophical sense of the experience at various periods of history and, together, show the genesis, the articulation and the destination of the theories developed by various authors in the concrete of philosophical research.

Course contents

Bruno's infinitistic cosmology.

The course will be devoted to an illustration of Giordano Bruno's cosmology as it appears in the Italian dialogues, "De l'infinito universo e mondi" and in the Latin prosimetrum "De immenso et innumerabilibus". The course will retrace the history of Renaissance discoveries of arguments in favour of the universe's infinite space: from the recovery and new reading of Lucretius in the mid-fifteenth century up to Bruno, through the reflections of Nicolò Cusano, Palingenio and Francesco Patrizi. An issue, this one concerning the universe's spacial infinity, which remained clearly separated from that of Copernicus' eliocentric revolution.

Readings/Bibliography

Student must read

Giordano Bruno, De l'infinito universo e mondi, in any edition as long as it is complete. I particularly suggest the editions with the comments by Giovanni Gentile, republished several times.

Alexandre Koyré, Dal mondo chiuso all'universo infinito, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1988

Teaching methods

lectures. During class the teacher reads, translates and comments on relevant textual passages and thematic nodes.

Assessment methods

Oral examination: Students are recommended to bring the texts when examining.
Students who have attended lectures may agree on exams (whether written or oral) devoted to specific topics.

Assessment criteria and thresholds of evaluation:

30 cum laude - Excellent as to knowledge, philosophical lexicon and critical expression.

30 – Excellent: knowledge is complete, well argued and correctly expressed, with some slight faults.

27-29 – Good: thorough and satisfactory knowledge; essentially correct expression.

24-26 - Fairly good: knowledge broadly acquired, and not always correctely expressed.

21-23 – Sufficient: superficial and partial knowledge; exposure and articulation are incomplete and often not sufficiently appropriate

18-21 - Almost sufficient: superficial and decontextualized knowledge. The exposure of the contents shows important gaps.

Exam failed - Students are requested to show up at a subsequent exam session if basic skills and knowledge are not sufficiently acquired and not placed in the historical-philosophical context.

Teaching tools

books

Office hours

See the website of Franco Bacchelli