73081 - History of Ancient Philosophy (2) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has acquired (1) the in-depth knowledge of a philosophical work of Greek and Roman antiquity and (2) three types of skills: (a) philological – he/she can analyze an ancient text autonomously using the advanced philological tools needed for the study of Greek and Roman philosophy; (b) dialectical – he/she is trained both in seminar team work and in discussing a philosophical problem in a synchronic and diachronic way, coping with the relevant critical literature; (c) rhetorical he/she is able to argue exegetical and philosophical theses both in oral form (through common discussions and individual presentations) and in written form (according different ways of writing).

Course contents

The four courses of History of Ancient Philosophy this year are devoted to a reflection on what makes us human: death (BA) and time (MA).

"[P]rendere atto della nostra condizione mortale significa anche prendere atto che siamo esposti alle contingenze del tempo, al potere del tempo che passa indifferente e inarrestabile. È una condizione rischiosa, certo, ma questo siamo: noi siamo i nostri progetti, quello per cui lottiamo e quello che decidiamo di fare. Rinunciando a questo rinunceremmo a noi stessi. Rivendicare l’importanza dei progetti, della nostra condizione di esseri temporalmente determinati, significa naturalmente riconoscere che siamo sempre esposti anche al rischio della sconfitta e del fallimento, al dominio della contingenza. Ma anche questo fa parte di quello che siamo: proprio perché mortali, siamo esseri fragili, esposti. Non ha senso rifiutare la paura della morte: non perché la morte sia un bene, ma perché la morte è costitutiva di ciò che siamo." (Mauro Bonazzi, Creature di un sol giorno: I Greci e il mistero dell’esistenza, Torino: Einaudi, 2020, p. 149)

 

The course of History of Ancient Philosophy (2) (LM) will take place in the Second Semester, Forth Period: March 21-May 7 2022.

Hours: Monday, 3-5pm, Classroom D (Via Centotrecento); Wednesday, 3-5pm, Classroom C (Via Zamboni, 34); Friday, 3-5pm, Classroom A (Via Zamboni, 32).

Start: Monday, March 21 2022, 3pm, 2022, Classroom D.

NOTICE: Friday 25th and Monday 28th March there will be no lessons.

 

SFA (2) (LM) – "If Time Exists": Sextus Empiricus, Against the Physicists, II (= M. X) 169-247

 

“People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

Einstein 1953

 

The course will take place in the form of a seminar: a slow reading in the original language of the pages that Sextus Empiricus has devoted to a double analysis – indirect (through the concept of movement) and direct – of time and its innumerable aporias, refuting the doctrines of previous ancient philosophers and together outlining the first brief history of time in Western philosophy. We will retrace the main stages of this history from Sextus’ skeptical point of view, keeping us in continous dialogue with the contemporary – philosophical and scientific – theories of time.

 

Main topics:

1. Introduction to ancient and modern philosophical skepticism
2. Greek Skepticism: Academics and Pyrronians
3. The work of Sextus Empiricus (2nd century AD) and Neo-Pyrrhonian skepticism
4. If time exists: the doxographic tradition (Sextus Empiricus, Against the Physicists, II 169-188) (pp. 147-151).
5. If time exists: the direct arguments (ivi, 189-247) (pp. 151-163).
6. The substance of time (ivi, 215-247) (pp. 156-163)

Readings/Bibliography

Text

• Sesto Empirico, Contro i Fisici / Contro i Moralisti, introd. Giovanni Indelli, transl. Antonio Russo, rev. Giovanni Indelli, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 1990.

Studies

• Barnes, Jonathan, The Toils of Scepticism, Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1990.
• Chiesara, Maria Lorenza, Storia dello scetticismo greco, Torino: Einaudi, 2003.
• De Caro, Mario / Spinelli, Emidio (ed.), Scetticismo: Una vicenda filosofica, Roma: Carocci, 2007.

* The bibliography can be supplemented during the course.

Teaching methods

SLOW READING SEMINAR (15 sessions, each of 2 hours)

Adopted methods:

• Slow reading of the sources in the original language.
• Group work.
• Drafting of a handout.
• Oral presentations.
• Group discussion.

PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING SEMINAR

• Editing guidelines.
• Reading essay of an ancient work: form and contents.

Assessment methods

EXAM PROGRAMME FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS

The exam includes a written and an oral test.

(1) The written test consists of a paper concerning the ancient work read and discussed during the seminar. The paper must be at least 10 maximum 15 standard Word pages, plus the bibliography and three appendices. During the seminar the details will be clarified, and a summary will be available in the guidelines uploaded among the online teaching materials (see Virtuale). 

(2) The oral exam consists of: (a) a discussion of the paper (form and content); (b) the study of Sesto Empirico, Contro i Fisici, II (= M. X) 169-247 (pp. 147-163). (b*) Students who cannot demonstrate they have taken at least one exam into the history of ancient philosophy in their career will have to study in addition the Diagramma cronologico [Chronological diagram] (by heart) and the Dispensa di Storia della Filosofia Antica dai Presocratici ad Agostino, uploaded online on Virtuale.

 

PROGRAMME FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Students who cannot attend for motivated reasons will also have to take both a written and an oral test.

(1) The written test consists of a paper concerning the following ancient work (you need to schedule an interview with the teacher for clarification and follow the guidelines uploaded online): Sesto Empirico, Schizzi pirroniani [1926], ed. by Onorato Tescari and Antonio Russo, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 1987 (only Book I).

(2)The oral exam consists of: (a) a discussion of the paper (form and content); (b) the study of one of the three essays reported in the course bibliography (see above), chosen by the student. (b*) Students who cannot demonstrate they have taken at least one exam into the history of ancient philosophy in their career will have to study in addition the Diagramma cronologico [Chronological diagram] (by heart) and the Dispensa di Storia della Filosofia Antica dai Presocratici ad Agostino, uploaded online (see Virtuale).

 

EXAM EVALUATION

The exam will be considered overall sufficient only if the two tests (written and oral) will be both sufficient. The final mark will result from the average of the marks of each single test.

Teaching tools

• Handouts.
• Partition diagrams and concept maps.
• Handbooks: (1) Norme di redazione per un saggio breve [Editing guidelines for a short essay]; (2) Seminario di scrittura filosofica [Philosophical writing seminar].
• TLG, databases and bibliographical repertoires.

Office hours

See the website of Carlotta Capuccino