75020 - History of Italian Philosophy (1)

Learning outcomes

The course objective is to allow a critical interpretation of primary and secondary sources on the history of Italian philosophy, with particular attention to the different political and social contexts, and to follow the parallel developments of philosophical culture, science and literature in Europe and in the international field. At the end of the course students will have acquired the ability to identify some of the main problems of the Italian philosophical thought, to employ specific lexicon the discipline, to critically assess the interpretative categories and methodological tools.

Course contents

Draft program.

The course will be devoted to Nicolò Machiavelli's "Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di Tito Livio": classical and medieval sources of Machiavelli's reflections on religion and politics.

During the classes we will primarily read those chapters of the "Discorsi" focused on the link between politics and religion, contextualizing them among the fifteenth-century and early sixteenth-century discussions on the characters of the "religion of the Romans". We will then pass on to illustrating the ideal continuity which exists between the thought of republican "civic humanism" and Machiavelli's reflection, with particular attention to the connections between military training - "L'Arte della Guerra" - religious faith and freedom.

Readings/Bibliography

For the exam, students must read:

Nicolò Machiavelli, Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di Tito Livio, any edition as long as complete. Editions with comments by Corrado Vivanti or Rinaldo Rinaldi are particularly suggested.

Emanuele Cutinelli Rendina, Introduzione a Machiavelli, Laterza 2013

Teaching methods

frontal lessons

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

Photocopies of the translated texts will be dealt out during the course

Office hours

See the website of Franco Bacchelli