28081 - Philosophy of History (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at promoting the skills of recognizing and analyzing the main aspects of the Philosophy of History, as well as developing a critical attitude towards the main themes of the discipline. The module also aims at analyzing a series of authors, especially contemporary ones, as an orientation in the main research issues that are still open in the discipline.

Course contents

In the labyrinth of the Ethics: the geometry of power.

The course aims to continue the study begun last year of one of the greatest works in the history of Western philosophy: Spinoza's Ethics. The major themes of the work, its structure and its main articulations will be addressed. Particular attention will be paid to the first two parts as well as to its developments in the conception of the mind and body. The course will have its logical continuation in Philosophy of History (2). It will therefore be possible to follow the two courses one after the other.

Readings/Bibliography

 

1. Philosophical works (compulsory one of them):

- Spinoza, Ethica/Etica, testo e trad. a cura di P. Cristofolini, ETS, Pisa, 2014.

- Spinoza, Etica, trad. a cura di E. Giancotti, Editori Riuniti, Roma, 2004.

- Spinoza, Ethica/Etica, trad. di G. Durante, note di G. Gentile rivedute e ampliate da G. Radetti, Bompiani, Milano, 2007.

 

2. Monography (compulsory)

Vinciguerra L., Spinoza, Carocci, “Pensatori”, Roma, 2015.

 

3. Critical studies (compulsory at least one of them):

Deleuze G. Spinoza e il problema dell’espressione, trad. di S. Ansaldi, Quodlibet, Macerata, 1999.

Matheron A., Individu et communauté chez Spinoza, Editions de Minuit, Paris, 1968.

Viljanen V., Spinoza’s Geometry of Power, Cambridge University Press, 2011.

 

4. One of the following books (compulsory for non attending students): 

Mignini F., L’«Etica». Introduzione alla lettura, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2002.

Moreau P.-F., Spinoza e lo spinozismo, Morcelliana, Brescia, 2007.

 

5. One of the following books (compulsory for non attending students):

Balibar É., Spinoza. Il transindividuale, Mimesis, Milano, 2014.

Bordoli R., Baruch Spinoza: etica e ontologia. Note sulle nozioni di sostanza, di essenza e di esistenza nell’Ethica, Guerini, Milano, 1996.

Bove L., La strategia del conatus. Affermazione e resistenza in Spinoza, a cura di F. Del Lucchese, pref. di T. Negri, Ghibi, Milano, 2002.

Caporali R., La pazienza degli esclusi. Studi su Spinoza. Mimesis, Milano, 2012.

Cristofolini P., L’uomo libero. L’eresia spinozista alle radici dell’Europa moderna, ETS, Pisa, 2007.

Deleuze G., Spinoza. Filosofia pratica, trad. it. di M. Senaldi, Guerini, Milano, 1991.

Morfino V., Genealogia di un pregiudizio. L’immagine di Spinoza in Germania da Leibniz a Marx, Olms Verlag, “Europea Memoria”, Hildesheim-Zurigo-New York, 2016.

Negri T., L’anomalia selvaggia. Saggio su potere e potenza in Baruch Spinoza, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1981.

Sangiacomo A., Homo liber. Verso una morale spinoziana, Mimesis, Milano, 2011. 

Vinciguerra L. Spinoza, Hachette, Paris, 2002. 

Visentin S., La libertà necessaria. Teoria e pratica della democrazia in Spinoza, ETS, Pisa, 2001.

 

6. Commentaries (recommended)

- Ronbison L., Kommentar zu Spinozas Ethik, Felix Meiner, Lipsia, 1928.

- Joachim H. H., A Study of the Ethics of Spinoza, Russell & Russell, New York, 1964.

- Guéroult M., Spinoza, 2 voll., Aubier Montaigne, Parigi, 1968-74: vol. I, Dieu (Éthique, I), 1968; vol. II, L’Âme, (Éthique, II), 1974.

- Macherey P., Introduction à l’Éthique de Spinoza, 5 voll., PUF, Parigi, 1994-1998.

 

Teaching methods

The lessons include both direct and commented reading of texts and the synthetic reconstruction of problems and paths. Particular attention will be given to interacting with students (discussions, short reports, etc.).

Assessment methods

Final interview, possibly (for those attending only) also starting from a text or a track prepared by the student in agreement with the teacher.
During the exam the student will have to demonstrate an excellent knowledge of the readings and, with the aid of secondary literature, good ability to set up historical reconstructions, relationships and comparisons between the authors and the topics dealt with: only this second ability allows to acquire excellent results.

Office hours

See the website of Lorenzo Vinciguerra