The purpose of this course is to give students an opportunity to understand and use the basic philosophical instruments of argumentation. In fact having and settling arguments is a basic function in any kind of intellectual or scientific discipline and research.  The choice of concepts leading the discussions allows students not only to understand where the history of philosophy finds its origins, but also enables them to open their conceptual analysis from classical to modern thinking.

Students are encouraged to focus on:

1. how philosophers use their arguments to support their theories or hypotheses;

2. what is a philosophical solution of a problem;

3. how philosophers always go back to perennial questions.

The following areas will be examined through classical and modern philosophers’ views:

FORMS/IDEAS

Parmenides; Heraclitus; Plato; Descartes; Hegel.

PERCEPTION

Plato; Locke.

LANGUAGE

Gorgias; Locke; Vico; contemporary linguistic turn.

LIFE AND POLITICS

Plato; Aristotle; Machiavelli; Hobbes; Adam Smith; Kant; Nietzsche; Marx.

SCIENCE

            Part of the course will regard a general historical reconstruction of western philosophical movements and theories, with a special focus on some of the most influential currents (such as “idealism”, “materialism”, “rationalism”, “nihilism” and “existentialism”). Each session will be supported by the reading of some of the most representative thinkers in each historical frame. The course will focus on practical applications of philosophical thinking, in the main fields of ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, politics and science.  One or more films are envisaged, depending on time schedule.

TEXT BOOK:

Thomas Nagel, What does it all mean? A very short introduction to philosophy

Oxford University Press 1987

Reference TEXTS:

Wells, In the Country of the Blind

G. Skirrbekk, History of Western Thought, Routledge 2001.

FILMS

Doctor Strangelove, by Stanley Kubrick

Run Lola run, by Tom Tykwer

Excerpts from Matrix

Course outcomes

 By the end of the semester students will be able to master and use basic philosophical concepts.  They will also be capable of individuating the major fields of philosophical analysis, and of critically constructing their own perspective on these issues.

Students should plan to regularly attend the class, since we will often broaden the topics contained in the texts to contemporary issues, and since this class is mainly intended to the rousing of students’ personal thoughts and ideas.

Please refer to the university catalog for the attendance and absence policy.

Academic honesty:

As stated in the university catalogue, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course.