87372 - Philosophy of Religion (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

a) Disciplinary characterization Unlike the sciences of religions and theology, the philosophy of religion does not deal with the religious phenomenon (cult, faith, etc.) as an “object” of the inquiry, nor does it intend to thematise the “religious subject”, whether it be God or the Divine in all its manifestations, but addresses the vital and symbolic dimension of the religious problem as a question of the way in which the human being understands his relationship with the world and with the sense of transcendence. From this point of view the religious experience is of particular importance, insofar as it shows a specificity irreducible to other forms and with respect to which a hermeneutic practice is possible to highlight the relationships that, in this experience, arise among the notions of “person,” “world,” “truth,” “symbol,” “transcendence,” “sacred,” and “divine.” The philosophy of religion thus uses all the dimensions of philosophical investigation (logic, epistemic, critical, aesthetic, phenomenological, ethical-moral, ontological, linguistic, historical) and intends the respective methodological instances as different aspects of the totality of religious lived experience. b) Methodology, knowledges and educational objectives The purpose of the teaching of Philosophy of Religion is to acquire knowledge and critical-analytical tools that can lead the student to understand religious experience in its multiple theoretical-conceptual articulation, namely both as a historical, cultural and symbolic phenomenon (with its social, political and ideological implications), and as existential, metaphysical-ontological and transcultural modality. Along with the relationship between philosophy and religion, takes particular importance the study of the philosophical and religious models that have changed from the modern age to today: empirical, illuministic, idealistic, critical-transcendental, marxist, neopositivist, ontological-existential, phenomenological, hermeneutic. These cognitive and educational objectives are pursued both with the tools and methods typical of the different disciplines of philosophy (historical-philosophical recognition, critical and conceptual elaboration, comparative application to contemporary thinking models), and with more comprehensive exegetic and hermeneutic techniques about allegorical manifestations and eschatological symbols that mark the “vital” phenomenon of the sacred and transcendent.

Course contents

Course title: Infinity and the Other in Levinas’s Thought

The course will examine Emmanuel Levinas’s philosophy, with particular reference to “Totality and Infinity”, in which the issue of alterity is developed through a comparison with Husserl’s phenomenology and Heidegger’s thought. Among the topics covered are: metaphysics and transcendence; the Same and the other; the idea of Infinity; the face; separation and ethical relation.

After an introduction to the philosophy of religion, in the first lessons the context in which the Levinasian thought is placed will be outlined, while the following lessons will be dedicated to the above mentioned issues.

Course timetable: 4th period, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 15-17 (Lecture room C, via Centotrecento)

Course start date: March 22, 2021

Readings/Bibliography

Program for attending students (“attending” means both those attending face-to-face lectures and those attending online lectures):

E. Levinas, Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority, Nijhoff, The Hague-Boston-London 1979 (selected pages).

E. Levinas, God and Philosophy, in Collected Philosophical Papers, Kluwer, Dordrecht-Boston-Lancaster 1987, pp. 153-173.

A. Fabris, Filosofia delle religioni. Come orientarsi nell'epoca dell'indifferenza e dei fondamentalismi, Carocci, Roma 2012.

G. Ferretti, La filosofia di Levinas. Alterità e trascendenza, Rosenberg & Sellier, Torino 2010 (optional).

J. Greisch, Le Buisson ardent et les Lumières de la raison. L'invention de la philosophie de la religion. III. Vers un paradigme herméneutique, Cerf, Paris 2004 (optional).

Program for non-attending students: in addition to the above mentioned reading list, the book of G. Ferretti, La filosofia di Levinas. Alterità e trascendenza, Rosenberg & Sellier, Torino 2010, pp. 109-181, is compulsory for non-attending students.

The slides used in the lessons will be available in the online material.

Teaching methods

Lectures; reading and commenting of texts; discussion on the main issues covered in the course.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral interview, which will assess the knowledge of the texts and the ability to critically discuss the proposed issues.

Grade assessment criteria:

30 cum laude: Excellent, both in knowledge and in the critical and expressive articulation.

30: Very good. Complete, well-articulated and correctly expressed knowledge, with some critical insights.

27-29: Good. Comprehensive and satisfactory knowledge, substantially correct expression.

24-26: Fairly good. Knowledge is present in the main points. but it is not comprehensive and not always correctly articulated.

21-23: Sufficient. Sometimes superficial knowledge, but the common thread is understood. Incomplete and often inappropriate expression and articulation.

18-21: Almost sufficient. Superficial knowledge, the common thread is not understood with continuity. Expression and articulation have significant gaps.

Not sufficient: Absent or very incomplete knowledge, lack of orientation in the discipline, defective and inappropriate expression.

Teaching tools

PowerPoint slides

Office hours

See the website of Sebastiano Galanti Grollo