39423 - History of Modern Philosophy (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students have an advanced understanding of the relevance of a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of modern and contemporary philosophy; they are able to analyze religious phenomena seen through the lens of multiple tools from several disciplines. They apply research methods to address issues relating to philosophy between the Modern and Contemporary Age. They are able to give form to the results of their own research onModern Philosophy, documenting in an accurate and complete way the information on which they base their conclusions and giving an account of the methodologies and research tools used.

Course contents

                    Un homme n’est pas une machine…
                     une hypothèse n’est pas un fait
               Diderot and the Enlightenment's reasons

II module

A qualitative conception of nature as an organism in perennial transformation, as a unitary and metamorphic body in which matter, life and knowledge are united, constitutes the most novel feature of the most versatile of the Philosophes, Denis Diderot, driver of the current of the French Enlightenment which opposes with full awareness of the mechanical philosophy of the previous century and proposes an idea of nature destined to influence the conceptions of the following century.

It is an idea of nature which is counterpointed by a model of knowledge that is suspicious of mechanical abstractions and mathematical reductionism, interested in experimenting and capable of integrating even the great spectra of Cartesian epistemology into the method of scientific knowledge. and Newtonian: the hypotheses and the heuristic potential of analogy.

The first module will focus in particular on the Pensées sur l’interprétation de la nature (1753-1754), investigating the essential junctions of Diderotian naturalistic conception and the proposed method of investigation.

The second module will enter the heart of Diderot's gnoseology analyzed through the comparison with his friend-opponent Jean d'Alembert, mathematician and co-director of the Encyclopédie, the polemical objective of Le Rêve de D’Alembert (1769).

Readings/Bibliography

Students are expected to know:

a) Pensées sur l’interprétation de la nature (any edition in the original language or in English or Italian translation)

b) E. Cassirer, La filosofia dell’Illuminismo, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1932(any edition in the original language or in English or Italian translation)

b) one of the following essays (two for students who have not attended the course)

- P. Casini, Diderot “philosophe”, Bari, Laterza, 1962
- A. Wilson, Diderot. L’appello ai posteri, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1977
- P. Quintili, Materialismes et Lumieres: philosophies de la vie, autour de Diderot et de quelques autres 1706-1789, Paris, H.Champion, 2009

 

Teaching methods

15 lectures.
During the course central paragraphs of the Diderot's Pensées will be read and  and compared with some sources and some critical interpretations of later philosophers.  Students are required to provide the text before the course begins.
Summaries and schemes of the classes will be periodically uploaded on AlmaDigital Library.
Students who attend classes are required to enroll, before the course begins, to the distribution list, ID: annarita.angelini.Diderot, password:Diderot
We recommend the students to see regulary the teacher's web page on which will be uploaded any information and change useful to those who attending the classes.
Students who have attended classes can replace the above texts with specific topics. These topics have to be agreed with the teacher at the end of the course.

Assessment methods

Oral examination: Students are recommended to bring the texts when examining.The interview focuses mainly on analysis and critical interpretation of the sources.
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

The texts  is an essential tool in order to actively participate in the classes. It is recommended to get hold of the text before classes.
The summaries of the lectures will be periodically (every three to six lectures) uploaded and allowed to the online consultation. Students have to enroll to the distribution list ID: annarita.angelini.Diderot; password:Diderot

Office hours

See the website of Annarita Angelini