85019 - History of Humanist Philosophy (1)

Academic Year 2020/2021

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Philosophy (cod. 9216)

    Also valid for First cycle degree programme (L) in Humanities (cod. 8850)
    First cycle degree programme (L) in Philosophy (cod. 9216)

Learning outcomes

Through texts and authors judged emblematic, the course aims at the acquisition of basic knowledge regarding the philosophy from the second half of the fourteenth century to the end of the sixteenth century. Students will be led to recognize the main topics of Italian humanism and grasp relationships and intersections between speculative thought, philology and theory of the arts. Among the goals of the course is to enable students to master the lexicon (Latin and Italian) of humanistic philosophy.

Course contents

The course will focus on Leon Battista Alberti's moral philosophy. We will not only read texts from the Profugiorum ab aerumna and the Theogenius or from the Intercenales - the first two are vernacular texts, the latter is in Latin - but we will focus on the moral and political - and eventually religious - conception that it is possible to draw from a text on architecture and urbanism such as the De re aedificatoria: the conception of the city and political power and other disturbing aspects regarding advice on religious constructions.

Readings/Bibliography

The entry LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, written by C. Grayson and G. C. Argan for the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (on-line)

LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, Intercenales, edited by Luca d'Ascia, Bologna, Pendragon, 2003 (a PDF will be uploaded on my page for didactic material)

Teaching methods

Oral lessons

Assessment methods

Oral exams on appointment to be taken by calling the mobile number 3349113980.

Office hours

See the website of Franco Bacchelli