12365 - History of Ancient Philosophy (2)

Learning outcomes

Three main objectives: (1) philological: to provide the essential tools for the study of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy; (2) dialectical: train to the discussion of a philosophical problem by examining ancient solutions compared to other solutions, particularly in modern and contemporary philosophy; (3) rhetorical: to provide a philosophical writing method aimed at preparing a written exercise on ancient philosophy.

Course contents

SFA 2022/23 (ENG)

Praise of Philosophy

The four courses of History of Ancient Philosophy this year will be devoted to a “praise of philosophy”: from the origins of the concept (BA) to the heart of Platonic ontology (MA), in constant comparison with the main philosophical models of modern and contemporary age. In a historical moment in which philosophy risks being lost in technological and application drifts, the urgency of a reflection on its history and identity is renewed. The lessons will be open to all interested students of all levels.

 

“[…] c’est un bonheur, disait Stendhal, ‘d’avoir pour métier sa passion’ ” (Maurice Merlau-Ponty)

 

SFA (2) – Philosophies of Philosophy: Ancient and Modern Philosophers in Comparison

The course of History of Ancient Philosophy (2) will take place in the Second Semester, Forth Period: March 20-May 5 2023.

Hours: Tuesday, 3-5pm, Classroom C (Via Zamboni, 34); Thursday, 11am-1pm, Classroom C; Friday, 11am-1pm, Classroom C.

Start: Thursday, March 23, 11am, 2023, Classroom C.

*ATTENTION* - Tuesday, March 21 there will be no lesson.

 

 Course contents

“[…] now that the god has arranged, as I have believed and understood, that I should live by philosophizing and examining myself and others” (Plato, Apology of Socrates, 28e4-6)

 

“I sit in a garden with a philosopher; he repeats several times: ‘I know that this is a tree’, and so saying he points to a tree near us. A third person arrives at that time and listens to these words, and I tell her: ‘This man is not crazy: we are only philosophizing.’ ”(Ludwig Wittgenstein, On Certainty [1950-51], §467)

 

Today, a praise of philosophy cannot fail to respond to the serious accusations that authoritative critics and scientists have made several times: “Mi piacerebbe che tutti gli appassionati di letteratura leggessero un libro di cosmologia: Dal Big Bang ai buchi neri: breve storia del tempo di Stephen Hawking. Amo, in questo libro, la mescolanza di tensione intellettuale e di ebbrezza psicologica […]. Ammiro la passione metafisica, il gioco puro delle idee – tutto quanto, una volta, eravamo abituati a trovare nei libri di filosofia e ora incontriamo più facilmente nei testi di letteratura, o di biologia, o di etnologia, o di cosmologia” (Pietro Citati); “[…] Philosophy is dead, having not kept pace with the most recent developments in science, and in particular in physics. So it was the scientists who picked up the torch in our quest for knowledge” (Stephen Hawking). This course will be an attempt to respond to these accusations through the detailed comparison between the main ancient and modern philosophical models on the nature and value of philosophy (among the ancient models we will see, in particular, the thought of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and the Hellenistic philosophies). The ultimate goal is to identify the current dominant model or models and their characteristic features, tracing their ancient roots.

 

Main topics:

1. The Socratic question: What is philosophy for you?
2. Philosophy and philosophies: philosophy, history of philosophy, philosophical historiography
3. Armchair philosophy and experimental sciences
4. “Philosophy is dead”: the blame of literary critics and scientists
5. The value of philosophy: the philosophers’ response between uselessness and progress
6. Philosophy today between the “craft of thinking”, conceptual negotiation and philosophical practices

 

*The course will be supported by the Rodolfo Mondolfo Seminars cycle, this year devoted to What is Philosophy? Participation in all the meetings of the cycle will entitle you to a bonus during the examination. Dates and places of the meetings will be reported on the Facebook page  Filosofia Antica a Bologna.

Readings/Bibliography

• Diagramma cronologico [Chronological diagram] to know by heart (see Teaching material on Virtuale)
• Dispensa di Storia della Filosofia Antica dai Presocratici ad Agostino 2017/18 (see Teaching material on Virtuale)
• Platone, Apologia di Socrate, transl. Simonetta Nannini, Siena: Barbera, 2007 (repr. Santarcangelo di Romagna: Rusconi, 2016).
• Handout with the texts read and commented on during the course (available at the end of the lessons on Virtuale)

 

 *Optional but recommended readings:

• Berti, Enrico, In principio era la meraviglia: Le grandi questioni della filosofia antica, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2007.
• Casati, Roberto, Prima lezione di filosofia, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2011.
• Hadot, Pierre, Che cos’è la filosofia antica? [1995], translated by Elena Giovannelli, Torino: Einaudi, 1998 (rep. 2010).
• Marconi, Diego, Il mestiere di pensare, Torino: Einaudi, 2014.

 

*The bibliography can be supplemented during the course.

 

Teaching methods

LECTURES COURSE (13 lectures)

Adopted methods:

• Slow reading of the sources in the original language and through a comparison of translations.
• Linguistic analysis and semantic fields.
• Argumentative analysis and short essays (pensum).
• The research community method.
• Dramatization.

PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING SEMINAR (2 lectures)

• Editing guidelines.
• Reading essay of an ancient work: form and contents.

Assessment methods

EXAM PROGRAMME FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS

The exam (6 cfu) consists in an oral test that requires (1) the study of the Diagramma cronologico [Chronological diagram] (by heart) and the Dispensa di Storia della Filosofia Antica dai Presocratici ad Agostino (for those who have already taken a first exam [SFA (1)], only chapters 16 to 23 of the index), available on the teacher’s web page (see Teaching materials) (among the online teaching materials, a .pdf entitled Linee guida [Guidelines] will also be available: it must be read carefully); and (2) the study of the topics discussed in class: a list of 10 questions will be distributed at the end of the course.

 

Alternatively:

*** Motivated students may substitute the entire oral exam with a paper of 5-7,5 standard pages, following the indications of the writing seminar to be held in the last week of the course. The seminar handbooks will be available online (see Virtuale).

 

PROGRAMME FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

The students who cannot attend for legitimate reasons must substitute the 10 questions entailed by the exam programme with the study of one work of ancient philosophy selected from (1) Platone, La Repubblica, transl. Mario Vegetti, Milano: BUR, 2006; and (2) Aristotele, Etica Nicomachea, transl. Carlo Natali, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 1999. The rest of the exam programme (the study of Diagramma cronologico and Dispensa di Storia della Filosofia Antica dai Presocratici ad Agostino) will remain the same.

 

*** Students who cannot attend are strongly advised to read the guidelines and, if necessary, to email me in order to make an appointment to discuss the details.

 

EXAM EVALUATION

The oral exam will be considered overall sufficient only if the historical and the philosophical part will be both sufficient.

The paper will be considered overall sufficient only if its form and content will be both sufficient.

Teaching tools

• Handout with excerpts from ancient works.
• Partition diagrams and concept maps.
• Handbooks: (1) Norme di redazione per un saggio breve [Editing guidelines for a short essay]; (2) Seminario di scrittura filosofica [Philosophical writing seminar].

* All materials will be shared in class and made available to students in pdf files.

• Web pages.
• Databases and bibliographical repertoires.

Office hours

See the website of Carlotta Capuccino