Course teached as: B002687 - STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA Second Cycle Degree in PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES
Teaching Language
Italian
Course Content
The course aims to provide a thorough account of the German Enlightenment, its main ideas and aftermath. The typical case of the philosopher, poet and dramatist G.E. Lessing (1729-1781) will prove appropriate for dealing with the following issues in particular: autonomous thought, criticism of tradition, education, tolerance, cosmopolitanism, and prejudices, especially in the religious field.
Moreover, the impact of these ideas on the thought of H.Arendt will be considered.
1) Lecture notes and handouts, distributed in class and/or made available on the platform MOODLE;
2) G.E. Lessing, Riabilitazione di Gerolamo Cardano, in G.E. Lessing, La religione dell'umanità, a cura di N. Merker, Laterza, Bari 1991, pp. 19-37, or in G.E. Lessing, Opere filosofiche, a cura di G. Ghia, UTET, Torino, 2006, pp. 377-401;
3) G.E. Lessing, L'educazione del genere umano, in G.E. Lessing, La religione dell'umanità, a cura di N. Merker, Laterza, Bari 1991, pp. 129-154 or in G.E. Lessing, Opere filosofiche, a cura di G. Ghia, UTET, Torino, 2006, pp. 515-540;
4) G.E. Lessing, Nathan il saggio, introduzione di E. Bonfatti, traduzione di A. Casalegno, Garzanti, Milano 1992 (and subsequent reprints) or any other edition;
5) One among the following texts:
-G.E. Lessing, Gli ebrei, a cura di A. Jori, prefazione di J. Limbach e postfazione di K.-J. Kuschel, Bompiani, Milano 2002;
-H. Arendt, Illuminismo e questione ebraica, a cura di A. Moscati, Cronopio, Napoli 2009 or a cura di A. Dal Lago, in "Il Mulino", XXXVI, 305 (1986), pp. 421-437;
-H. Arendt, L'umanità in tempi bui. Riflessioni su Lessing, a cura di L. Boella, Cortina, Milano 2006 or any other edition.
Learning Objectives
Learning objectives according to the Dublin Descriptors and the discipline-specific goals:
1) Knowledge and understanding which go beyond those typical for a BA degree, and refer to usually neglected authors such as, in this case, G.E. Lessing; introduction to philosophical research by familiarizing with secondary literature and developing innovative ideas;
2) Knowledge and understanding applied to new topics and interdisciplinary contexts such as early modernity and the German Enlightenment; acquaintance with authors which are at the boundaries between different disciplines, such as the philosopher, theologian, poet, playwright and translator G.E. Lessing; problem-solving abilities in dealing with inter- and multidisciplinary issues (e.g. nature and features of different literary genres);
3) Ability to integrate one's knowledge through personal readings; ability to both handle complexity and formulate reliable judgments with incomplete or limited information through reasoning; reflection on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of one's knowledge and judgments, which in this case refer to topics of great import and urgency such as religious/racial prejudices, tolerance and cosmopolitanism;
4) Ability to communicate one's conviction in a clear and non-ambiguous way, including not only one's conclusions, but also the information and rationale underpinning them (participation in/chairing of class discussions and presentation of one's papers with subsequent discussion); ability to adapt style, register and vocabulary to the relevant audience, distinguishing in particular between specialist papers and outreach activities; ability to communicate effectively in both written and oral form;
5) Lifelong skills providing the intellectual tools for a further and substantially autonomous development in education, research and/or a profession (e.g. in teaching).
Prerequisites
BA
Teaching Methods
The course will consist of both lectures and interactive class sessions. The latter will be both discussions, at first guided by the professor and then by student themselves, and presentations by students, followed by a class debate.
Further information
-Title of the course:
The German Enlightenment and its Aftermath: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781).
Attendance is mandatory.
Students with legitimate reasons for not attending (i.e. part-time students) are requested to contact the professor as soon as possible in order to discuss possible additions to the programme.
This course belongs to a voluntary teaching cluster within the MA programme in "Scienze Filosofiche". In the academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19
the following courses will deal with the common topic "World, Globe, Earth": Storia della filosofia (Laura Anna Macor), Filosofia della storia (Bruno Accarino), Filosofia politica (Dimitri D'Andrea), Antropologia filosofica (Ubaldo Fadini), Storia dell'estetica (Gianluca Garelli) and Filosofia sociale (Elena Pulcini).
In particular, the course of "Storia della filosofia" will focus on the notion of "world", more specifically in relation to the idea of "cosmopolitanism" and plurality in G.E. Lessing and H. Arendt.
-Optional supplementary reading:
N. Merker, Introduzione a Lessing, Laterza, Roma – Bari 1991.
Type of Assessment
The types of assessments mirror the learning objectives and comprise different ways of evaluation: participation in, and possible chairing of class discussions and/or written/oral paper + oral examination.
Course program
The course will consist of three parts:
1) Introduction to the German Enlightenment and to life and works of G.E. Lessing;
2) Analysis of the mandatory readings and the first optional reading;
3) Introduction to life and works of Hannah Arendt and analysis of the last two optional readings.
Each part of the course will consist of lectures, discussions guided by the professor and/or by students themselves, and papers by students.