Course Topics
The courses is a continuation of “Principles of Philosophy I” and picks up some of the motives that were dealt with there. However, participation in the earlier course is not presupposed for following this one. Topics: - The unfolding of modern philosophy (Descartes, Kant, Leibniz, Nietzsche, Heidegger) - the structure of a metaphysical position; - the problem of truth; - the essence of man; - the structure of scientific knowledge; - "two natures"; - the relation of philosophy, science and art; - fundamental ethics and original economics; - the end of philosophy and the future scope of thinking.

Propaedeutic courses
None.

Teaching format
Mixed lecture and seminar style. Lectures 1 to 12 will be taught by Ralf Lüfter. Lectures 13 to 24 will be taught by Ivo De Gennaro. Exercise hours will be offered to elucidate (including from a linguistic point of view) and deepen what is presented and discussed in class.

Educational objectives
Knowledge and understanding: By the end of the programme, students will have acquired the following knowledge and skills: diachronic textual knowledge and hermeneutical tools for understanding the phenomenon of human existence in the context of the institution of the polis; diachronic textual knowledge and tools of epistemological analysis to understand the relationship between philosophical and scientific knowledge, with particular attention to the ethical foundations of economics and the presuppositions and implications of economic modelling; knowledge of selected basic philosophical positions and theoretical tools of analysis to develop the autonomous ability to conceptualise and ethically and philosophically diagnose phenomena; knowledge of selected basic philosophical positions and theoretical tools of analysis for understanding the fundamental institutions of the Western world; knowledge of the relationship between nature and society based on fundamental concepts of the philosophical tradition that enable an analysis of the human habitat and an understanding of the crises associated with the mechanisation of nature in an economic context; knowledge of the philosophical reasons for decision-making criteria in the economic field and their ethical implications, with the aim of understanding the element of responsibility that these reasons entail at both theoretical and practical levels, focussing on transformative experiences Applying knowledge and understanding: The ability to disengage from the operational, contingent level and the corresponding forms of knowledge in order to engage with the realm in which meaning and the grounding knowledge related to it are constituted; the ability to distinguish between the factual cause of a fact and the origin or principle of a phenomenon; the ability to understand the linguistic dimension and the differences between languages as a field of elaboration of philosophical thought; the ability to adopt an autonomous cognitive and critical stance, supported by an adequate capacity for conceptualisation at the methodological, theoretical and ethical levels; the ability to read and interpret examples of texts from the philosophical tradition and to understand the rationale of their reasoning; the ability to formulate a concept or argument effectively in a multilingual context characterised by translation and dialogue between languages. Making judgements: Acquiring the necessary judgement and associated methodological tools to critically analyse data, sources, assumptions and implications of scientific practice and the political, ethical and legal contexts in which economic phenomena are situated and with which they interact. Communication skills Proficiency in written and spoken Italian, German and English, including the translation of these languages. Intercultural competence. Conceptual conciseness, ability to capture facts in writing, especially for scientific and science-based texts Learning skills Promotion of critical thinking and the analytical ability to recognise complex problems in their long-term dynamics and in the diversity of their - also ethical - implications.

Additional educational objectives and learning outcomes
The course focuses on the capacity for philosophical conceptualization and diagnosis of phenomena, particularly economic ones. Towards this end it analyses exemplary positions of the modern philosophical tradition, and touches upon topics such as the relation between being and man, the essence of truth, the foundation of the sense of beings, the relation between philosophy and science, etc. Through a phenomenological approach to an original philosophical ethics the course offers an outline of the fundamental traits of the philosophical institution of humanity. Knowledge and understanding: 1. knowledge and understanding of selected fundamental positions of the philosophical tradition; 2. knowledge of the fundamental institutions of western humanity; 3. knowledge of some conceptual tools for a fundamental ethical diagnosis of our epoch. Applying knowledge and understanding: 1. development of the capacity for distinguishing between the operative or contingent reality and the domain of the constitution of sense; 2. development of the capacity for analysing the conditions of possibility and the implications of (economic) phenomena; 3. development of the capacity for elaborating and formulating a philosophical argument. Making judgments: 1. learning what a philosophical judgment consists in; 2. learning and applying the difference between making a judgment and evaluating; 3. learning and applying the difference between making a judgment and expressing an opinion. Communication skills: 1. students learn how to speak about non-contingent, pre-scientific circumstances; 2. students exercise how to speak in an manner that is guided by the sense-structure of the matter at hand; 3. students are confronted with the specific requirements of oral and written philosophical communication. Learning skills: 1. autonomous anhypothetical reasoning; 2. hermeneutic abilities exercised on philosophical texts; 3. oral and written expression of autonomous thinking.

Assessment
- Open book written final exam with short questions on course contents (50% of final mark) + - Oral presentation (individuals or small groups) (50% of final mark) OR - Open book written final exam with short questions on course contents (50% of final mark) + - Essay (with oral presentation to professor) (50% of final mark)

Evaluation criteria
Written final exam: proven autonomous understanding of course contents. Presentation: willingness to interrogate and capacity to present conceptual issues and factual problems in a philosophical manner. Take-home essay: capacity to present a philosophical argument in a clearly structured manner.

Required readings

-      Readings handed out in class

-      Chapters from: Ivo De Gennaro, Principles of Philosophy. A phenomenological approach. Freiburg: Alber, 2019

 

All Texts will be made available via the Reserve Collection.

Supplementary readings

Will be suggested upon request.

Further information
Audio recordings of classes will be made available via the Reserve Collection.