68895 - Moral Philosophy B

Learning outcomes

Students are expected to acquire knowledge of the main issues of moral philosophy and their relationship with metaphysics and politics.

Course contents

On the theological-political. Hobbes and Spinoza compared.

What are the origins and nature of power, what are those of law and the sovereign? Starting from a critique of Aristotelianism, the modern age introduces a new paradigm for thinking about the theological origins of power. Two figures stand out in this phase of redefinition of the theological-political, which still today represent two key references of our tradition: Hobbes and Spinoza. The course intends to compare them.

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography

A. One fo these editions:

Benedetto Spinoza, Trattato teologico politico, introduzione di Emilia Giancotti Boscherini, traduzione di Antonio Droetto e Emilia Giancotti Boscherini, Einaudi, Torino, 1972 (1980).

Benedictus de Spinoza, Tractatus theologico-politicus/Trattato teologico politico, a cura di Pina Totaro, Bibliopolis, Napoli, 2007.

Spinoza, Opere, a cura di Filippo Mignini e Omero Proietti, “I meridiani”, Mondadori, Milano, 2007.

Spinoza, Etica, Trattato teologico politico, a cura di Remo Cantoni e Franco Fergnani, UTET, Torino, 2005.

 

B. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008.

 

Exam program:

1. Trattato teologico-politico in particular: Prefazione, cap. I, II, IV, VI, VII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XX.

2. Leviatano, in particular: cap. XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XXI, XXXII, XXXVII, XLVI.

 

3. Critics:

Norberto Bobbio, Thomas Hobbes, Giulio Einaudi editore, 2004.

Lorenzo Vinciguerra, Spinoza, Carocci, Roma 2015.

 

4. For students not attending the course, one among the following: 

Marco Iannucci, Libertà politica e religione in Spinoza. Saggiosul «Trattato teologico-politico» e sul «Trattato politico», Mimesis, Milano, 2019.

Giovanni Fiaschi, Il desiderio del Leviatano. Immaginazione e potere in Thomas Hobbes, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli, 2014.

Domenico Fisichella, Alla ricerca della sovranità. Sicurezza e libertà in Thomas Hobbes, Carocci, Roma, 2008.

Carl Schmitt, Sul Leviatano, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2011.

Domenico Collacciani, Blanche Gramusset-Piquois, Francesco Toto (a cura di), Lectures du Traité théologico-politique. Philosophie, religion, pouvoir, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2021.

Teaching methods

The lessons include both direct and commented reading of texts and the synthetic reconstruction of problems and paths. Particular attention will be given to interacting with students (discussions, short reports, etc.).

Assessment methods

Final interview, possibly (for those attending only) also starting from a text or a track prepared by the student in agreement with the teacher.
During the interview the student will have to demonstrate an excellent knowledge of the readings and, with the aid of secondary literature, good ability to set up historical reconstructions, relationships and comparisons between the authors and the topics dealt with: only this second ability allows to acquire excellent results.

Office hours

See the website of Lorenzo Vinciguerra