Argomenti dell'insegnamento
- The inception of thinking and metaphysics; - the scope of a metaphysical position; - philosophy as phenomenology; - the problem and the changing notions of truth; - the essence of man; - the structure of scientific knowledge; - the relation of philosophy, science and art; - fundamental ethics and original economics; - the transition from ancient to modern philosophy; - the problem of method.

Insegnamenti propedeutici
None

Modalità di insegnamento
Mixed lecture and seminar style. Students are required to prepare required readings and encouraged to participate in class discussions.

Obiettivi formativi e risultati di apprendimento (ulteriori info.)
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 philosophical tradition from antiquity to the beginning of modernity, 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 a manner that is guided by the sense-structure of the matter at hand; 3. students are confronted with the specific requirements of written philosophical communication (essay writing). Learning skills: 1. autonomous anhypothetical reasoning; 2. hermeneutic abilities exercised on philosophical texts; 3. written expression of autonomous thinking.

Modalità d'esame
A. Modality “attending”: Assessment 1: Open-book written final exam with short questions on two levels: one designed to check knowledge and understanding in terms of indicated objectives, the other designed to verify the capacity for applying this knowledge and this understanding in reasoning. Assessment 2: Take home essay on one of a series of suggested or on a freely chosen topic. This exercise requires students to exhibit the capacity for unfolding philosophical thinking in a more extended form, displaying the acquired ability to distinguish between factual-ontic description and merely formal-logical reasoning, on the one hand, and ontological interrogation on the other. B. Modality “non-attending”: Closed-book written final exam on the entire material covered during the course (= assessment 3).

Criteri di valutazione
Assessment 1 counts for 70% of the final mark. Assessment 2 counts for the remaining 30%. Assessment 3 carries 100% of the mark. Relevant for assessments 1 and 3: clarity, coherence and exhaustiveness of answers; capacity for arguing straight to the point, without introducing elements that are alien to what is being asked. Relevant for assessment 2: the capacity for posing a genuinely philosophical question and for unfolding autonomous philosophical reasoning; proven effort of elaborating a clear and formally correct text.

Bibliografia obbligatoria

- Selected chapters from I. De Gennaro, Principles of Philosophy. A Phenomenological Approach, Freiburg: Karl Alber Verlag, 2019.

- Extracts from classical texts and other relevant readings made available in the Reserve collection and/or handed out in class.

Bibliografia facoltativa

- Plato, The Republic (any edition)

Altre informazioni
Audio recordings of classes will be made available through the Reserve collection.