27280 - Seminars (1) (G.A.)

Learning outcomes

The philosophy Seminars propose general objectives, which are those specific teaching seminar: (1) to train the students to philosophical discussion urging participation in conferences and presentations of Italian and foreign scholars; (2) deepen the topics of the courses through participation in philosophical lectures by specialists also of other universities; (3) broaden their thematic and methodological horizons to complete offered teaching.

Course contents

Mappæ Mundi. Ecosophical strategies for minority cosmopolitanism

 

Main aim: resuming the composition of ecological profiles for Modern rationality.

Secondary goals: bringing together aspects of teaching and aspects of research; providing further reading advice regarding the contemporary ecological movement; creating an interface between students and researchers.

The problem of the human and its theoretical and practical status is increasingly imposing itself in philosophical and other debates. The anthropogenic impact on the Earth system-the definition most often used to define the contemporary ecological crisis-appears more and more evident, and seems to produce more and more accelerating effects of unusual and devastating phenomena, such as droughts, pandemics, etc. But what does this seemingly clear and distinct definition mean in practice? The semantic ambivalences of this expression perhaps force contemporary thought to re-propose the old questions, in the light of the new problems. We are also witnessing, correlatively to the increasing number of severe climate phenomena, a proliferation of buzzwords, clear on the surface, but containing important semantic conflicts between orders of discourse to understand the complex layers of the ecological question. Investigating the different ways of inhabiting the earth by the human animal means taking ecological discourse seriously in its geologies of meaning and expression, outside of an ethnocentric monolingualism to open up new ways of weaving and experiencing the multifaceted relations at the heart of ecosophical thinking.

What does Man mean today, in the time of environmental crises? Is it possible to make an ecology of the human animal that is neither naturalistically connoted nor relativistically oriented?

The ecosophy seminar's journey of exploration continues. After sentimental education (a.y. 2020/21) and the luminous ambivalences of cognitive practices (a.y.2021/22), this year we will draw maps to orient ourselves in ecological thinking. The seminar will try to answer, in its own way, some questions that seem increasingly urgent in our present and our future: is it only under the aegis of cosmopolitanism that a relationship with the Earth is proposed again? What is the Earth of cosmopolitanism? Is there life beyond the "perpetual peace" of Cosmopolitan law?

 

The overall aim is the institution of protocols for minoritarian thought, halfways between ecological sensibility and economic rationality, useful for conceptualising new states of equilibrium between acting-the-mind and speaking-the-life.

This year as usual, after introducing some preliminary notions, the main focus will be on applied experimentation of methods in philosophical ecology: next to more didactic interventions held by professors and expert researchers both from this and other universities, there will be also be lectures held by younger researchers dealing with the topics at hand. Consequently, third-year students will get acquainted with philosophical arguments carried out by researchers, hopefully preparing the continuation towards and M. Sc. and foreshadowing a possible future in the field, learning from first-hand experience how research plays out, from its initial stagee to the obtainment of more expert contents.

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliografia principale

G. De Fazio, P.F. Lévano, I. Sorrentino, Prontuario di Ecosofia, Ventura, 2019 (nuova edizione in pubblicazione);

F. Guattari, Le tre ecologie, Sonda, 2019;

A. Naess, Ecosofia. Ecologia, società e stili di vita, Red, 1994;

A. Naess, Introduzione all'ecologia, ETS, Pisa, 2016.

Bibliografia complementare:

M. Iofrida, Per un paradigma del corpo: una rifondazione filosofica dell’ecologia, Quodlibet, 2019;

P.F. Lévano, Decolonizzare la lettura. Indecidibilità nella prosa rioplatense (1960-1969), “Philosophy Kitchen”, 14, 2021, pp. 197-209;

P. Amoroso, Pensiero terrestre e spazio di gioco. L’orizzonte ecologico dell’esperienza a partire da Merleau-Ponty, Mimesis, 2019;

- P. Amoroso (a cura di), Ecologia, Roma, Castelvecchi, 2023 (forthcoming).

G. De Fazio, Ecologia del possibile. Razionalità, esistenza, amicizia, ombre corte, 2021;

P. Missiroli, Teoria critica dell’Antropocene. Vivere dopo la Terra, vivere nella Terra, Mimesis, forthcoming;

P. Anker, Imperial Ecology: Environmental Order in the British Empire, 1895-1945, Harvard University Press, 2001;

M. Ciardi, Breve storia delle pseudoscienze, Milano, Hoepli, 2021;

F. Marsciani, Tracciati di Etnosemiotica, FrancoAngeli, 2016.

Teaching methods

Following the format of past editions, two-hour lectures will consist thus: one hour of exposition and one hour of debate with an active participation by the students, who will be able to raise questions and actively participate. Bibliographical informations will be given before the starting of the course by blog ubiminorblog.wordpress.com, where it will be possible for students to consult abstracts with specific bibliographical hints, in order to be able to read without delays  texts which could be of interest for them; moreover, they will receive by mailing list all the didactic materials useful for their study. The web site will also be constantly updated with reports of past cycles and all informations best performing their activities.  

Assessment methods

 

VERY IMPORTANT: THIS YEAR IT WILL BE ALLOWED TO ATTEND EXCLUSIVELY IN ATTENDANCE; STUDENTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO BE PHYSICALLY PRESENT DURING CLASSES.

To obtain eligibilty it will ne necessary to attend  al least   11 lessons out of the total of 15.

From this compulsory attendance will be excepted only

• Students who are currently abroad on Erasmus program
• Working students, who must document, by a declaration of their employer, that their working time makes attendance impossible for them

Only for these two categories of students, eligibility will be obtained by taking a short oral exam on one of the following texts:

- A. Naess, Introduzione all'ecologia, Pisa, ETS, 2015, pp. 85-96 e 123-172

or

- F. Guattari, Le tre ecologie, Milano, Sonda, 2019.

Teaching tools

See teaching methods.

Office hours

See the website of Manlio Iofrida