00961 - History of Philosophy (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

Students learn to become familiar with currents of thought, issues, important authors of philosophical thought, and to orient themselves in each of their historical interpretations. They are trained in the critical reading of the texts that takes into account the reference traditions, and to evaluate argumentative and rhetorical strategies in the context of the cultural conditioning (institutional, religious, ideological and scientific).

Course contents

Course title: Between Plato and Aristotle: philosophy and religion in Renaissance Italy. Ficino, Pomponazzi, Bruno.

In Renaissance philosophy, the controversy against models and styles typical of Scholastic culture is linked to the massive recovery of ancient thought traditions, in which new cultural perspectives are sought, but above all solutions to a profound religious and ethical-civil crisis. Firstly, there is the renewed interest for Plato to nurture a profound reconsideration of the philosophy/religion nexus. In Marsilio Ficino’s work this approach translates into a suggestive proposal built on faith in a mythical original truth of a platonic-hermetic approach, destined to recompose the growing discord between philosophical knowledge and Christianity. But, in the case of other thinkers, the reference to a conceptual horizon similar to that of Ficino – with his appreciation of pre-Aristotelian philosophers and ancient ‘Egyptian’ wisdom – is the basis of a radical and destructive controversy with regard to Christian doctrine. Thus, Giordano Bruno uses ‘fables’ of the ancient people to deny Christianity every value of the truth. In fact, the philosopher is accusing Christianity of having hidden and erased the vital fullness of the God-man-nature relationship cultivated by the ancient wise people and witnessed to the maximum degree of awareness and operability in the religious magic of the Egyptians.

The need for spiritual renewal is also not without investment in the same Aristotelian tradition. Pietro Pomponazzi deeply contemplates the theme of limits of human freedom; of the fate of religions; of the very consistency of the concept of the ‘supernatural’ in a universe dominated by the inflexible regularity of physical and cosmological laws.

The opinions of the three thinkers are joined by the idea of a cyclical structure of history and a dense network of allusions, references and lexical loans. Their reflection results in innovative anthropological and ethical-religious consequences (above all: reflection on the powers of the imagination and on nature and the statute of prophecy), that the course will seek to illustrate and motivate.

Readings/Bibliography

During the lessons will be read the following texts (or any part):

M. Ficino, Teologia platonica, a cura di E. Vitale, Milano, Bompiani, 2011 (books, I, XIII, XVIII);

M. Ficino, Sulla vita, a cura di A. Tarabochia Canavero, Milano, Rusconi, 1995 (book III, chapters 1-4, 11-13, 15-16, 18-19);

P. Pomponazzi, Le incantazioni, Introduzione, traduzione e commento a cura di V. Perrone Compagni, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2016 (chapters 10-13);

G. Bruno, Spaccio de la bestia trionfante (only the Dialogo terzo), in Id., Dialoghi filosofici italiani, a cura e con un saggio introduttivo di M. Ciliberto, Milano, Mondadori, 2000, pp. 595-670 and footnotes, pp. 1262-1290.

2. In addition to in-depth knowledge of the texts referred to in paragraph 1, all studens must read:

M. Ciliberto, La ruota del tempo. Interpretazione di Giordano Bruno, Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1986, 2000;

E. Garin, Il ritorno dei filosofi antichi, Napoli, Bibliopolis, 1983;

V. Perrone Compagni, Maghi, demoni, profeti: alcuni temi del De incantationibus, Introduzione a P. Pomponazzi, Le incantazioni, a cura di V. Perrone Compagni, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2016, pp. 10-84;

C. Vasoli, Ficino, la profezia e i sogni, «La parola del testo», 3, 1999, fasc. 1, pp. 147-163;

C. Vasoli, Marsilio Ficino e la sua renovatio, in Marsilio Ficino. Fonti, testi, fortuna, a cura di S. Gentile e S. Toussaint, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2006, pp. 1-23.

3. For a general knowledge of the history of philosophy from 15th to 17th century is recommended a selective access to one of the following manuals:

F. Cioffi et al., Il testo filosofico. Storia della filosofia: autori, opere, problemi, vol. 2: L'età moderna, B. Mondadori, Milano, 1992 (or following editions);

L. Fonnesu, M. Vegetti et al., Le ragioni della filosofia, 2: Filosofia moderna, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2008 (or following editions);

Storia della filosofia occidentale, a cura di G. Cambiano, L. Fonnesu e M. Mori, vol. 2: Medioevo e Rinascimento; vol. 3: Dalla rivoluzione scientifica all'Illuminismo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2014.

Further recommended readings

For the purposes of examination may be useful - in different ways, that the teacher will illustrate - also the following references:

On Ficino:

A. De Pace, La scepsi, il sapere e l’anima. Dissonanze nella cerchia laurenziana, Milano, F. Angeli, 2002;

P. O. Kristeller, Il pensiero filosofico di Marsilio Ficino, Firenze, Le Lettere, 2005;

C. Vasoli, Quasi sit Deus. Studi su Marsilio Ficino, Lecce, Conte, 1999.

On Pomponazzi:

B. Nardi, Studi su Pietro Pomponazzi, Firenze 1965;

V. Perrone Compagni, Critica e riforma del cristianesimo nel De fato di Pomponazzi, in P. Pomponazzi, Il fato, il libero arbitrio e la predestinazione, a cura di V. Perrone Compagni, vol. I, Torino, Aragno, 2004, pp. IX-CLVIII;

Pietro Pomponazzi. Tradizione e dissenso, Atti del Congresso internazionale di studi su Pietro Pomponazzi (Mantova, 22-24 ottobre 2008), a cura di M. Sgarbi, Firenze, Olschki, 2010;

M.L. Pine, Pietro Pomponazzi radical Philosopher of the Renaissance, Padova 1986.

R. Ramberti, Il problema del libero arbitrio nel pensiero di Pietro Pomponazzi. La dottrina etica del De fato: spunti di critica filosofica e teologica nel Cinquecento, Firenze, Olschki, 2007.

On Bruno:

Favole metafore, storie. Seminario su Giordano Bruno, Introduzione di M. Ciliberto, a cura di O. Catanorchi e D. Pirillo, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2007;

Giordano Bruno, Parole, concetti, immagini, Direzione scientifica di M. Ciliberto, 3 voll., Firenze-Pisa, Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento-Edizioni della Normale, 2014;

A. Ingegno, La sommersa nave della religione. Studio sulla polemica anticristiana del Bruno, Napoli, Bibliopolis, 1985;

F. Meroi, Cabala parva. La filosofia di Goirdano Bruno fra tradizione cristiana e pensiero moderno, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2006;

G. Sacerdoti, Sacrificio e sovranità. Teologia e politica nell’Europa di Shakespeare e Bruno, Torino, Einaudi, 2002.

On the philosophy/religion nexus in the Renaissance and the relationships between faith, imagination and prophecy:

Phantasia-Imaginatio, V Colloquio Internazionale del Lessico Intellettuale Europeo, (Roma, 9-11 gennaio 1986). Atti a cura di M. Fattori e M. Bianchi, Roma, Edizioni dell’Ateneo, 1988 (con un importante saggio introduttivo di E. Garin su Phantasia e imaginatio tra Marsilio Ficino e Pietro Pomponazzi);

R. Klein, L'immaginazione come veste dell'anima in Marsilio Ficino e Giordano Bruno e L’Inferno del Ficino, in Id., La forma e l’intelligibile. Scritti sul Rinascimento e l’arte moderna, Prefazione di A. Chastel, Torino, Einaudi, 1975, pp. 45-74 e 75-118;

M. Muccillo, La concezione dell’immaginazione nel Rinascimento tra platonismo e aristotelismo (Marsilio Ficino e Giovan Francesco Pico), in La mente, il corpo e i loro enigmi. Saggi di filosofia, a cura di G. Coccoli et al., Roma, Stamen, 2007, pp. 11-35;

N. Tirinnanzi, Umbra naturae. L’immaginazione da Ficino a Bruno, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2000.

N.B.: Students who cannot attend classes or who don't know Italian are advised to contact the teacher (in office hours, and not by e-mail) to arrange the most appropriate supplementary readings or any personalized exam programs.

Teaching methods

The course, consisting of 30 lectures, will be mostly devoted to reading, text analysis and commentary. Students are therefore required to provide the texts at the start of the course.

The illustration of themes and concepts will be accompanied by the reconstruction of the cultural contexts and sources - both classical and modern - that have fuelled and enriched the reflection of the three philosophers covered by this course.

Class attendance and direct participation of the students (either through discussion or the presentation of in-depth reports on particular topics) are strongly encouraged.

The course will be held in the first semester and will start on October 2nd, 2017.

Timetable:

- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Room A, Via Zamboni 34.

Assessment methods

Final oral examination.

Assessment criteria

The goal of the exam is to measure the achievement of the following learning objectives:

1. Ability to navigate with confidence regarding the overall problem of the discipline and to comment analytically on the philosophical texts discussed during the lessons;

2. Knowledge of secondary literature works listed in the bibliography, combined with the ability to learn how to reference them in autonomous and critical forms;

3. Basic knowledge of the history of modern philosophy, from Humanism to the 17^th century.

The student's ability to learn how to operate with confidence and autonomy within the sources and the secondary literature and the possession of a language and forms of expression appropriate to the discipline will be assessed in a particular manner.

Assessment thresholds

30 with distinction: Excellent results for the solidity of skills, wealth of critical articulation, expressive properties and maturity.

30: Excellent result: complete and well-articulated knowledge of themes addressed in lessons, with critical ideas, and illustrated with adequate expressive features.

29-27: Good result: complete knowledge and adequately contestualized, fundamentally correct presentation.

26-24: Moderate result: knowledge is present in the essential areas, though not thorough and not always articulated correctly.

23-21: Sufficient result: superficial or purely mnemonic understanding of the subject, confused articulation of the presentation, with often inappropriate expression.

20-18: Barely sufficient result: knowledge of the subject, articulation during discussions and methods of expression demonstrate considerable gaps in understanding.

< 18: Insufficient result, exam failed. The student is invited to attend a subsequent exam session where the essential skills have not been acquired, lacking the ability to orient themselves within the subjects of the course and of the same discipline and where the methods of expression demonstrate considerable gaps in understanding.

Teaching tools

Slides and photocopies (limited to hard to find texts);

Advanced seminars;

Any individualized works.

Office hours

See the website of Elisabetta Scapparone