The course aims at providing the necessary skills in order to grasp a contemporary philosophical text. To this purpose, the course provides students with the necessary tools in order to:

- elaborate an appropriate historical-social contextualization of a contemporary philosophical text;

- identify the prior philosophical streams setting up the framework of a given philosophical work and be confident with the text’s features that make them identifiable (by focusing in particular on the traits of lexical permanence, on the recursion of argumentative methods, on shared philosophical objectives).

- pick out the original features that characterize a single work of contemporary philosophy within its philosophical tradition;

- be able to grasp the stratified character of a philosophical text and to subsequently, possibly identify its weaknesses;

- identify the weak points of a philosophical text also concerning logical fallacies (e.g. incoherence between assumptions and consequences; begging the question; semantic vagueness);

- identify the possible weaknesses of a philosophical work that are due to the simultaneous presence of divergent and incoherent philosophical traditions within the text (that may also stand beyond the explicit author’s purposes).     

1)    György Lukacs’s History and Class Consciousness:

- The Phenomenon of Reification

- The Antinomies of Bourgeois Thought

- The Standpoint of the Proletariat

2) Karl Korsch’s Marxism and Philosophy:

- the scientific socialism and the problem of the suppression/sublation of philosophy

- the three main periods within the History of Marxism and their relation to philosophy;

- the dialectical method. 

No

Knowledge and understanding

- Acknowledgment of the importance of the political-social context for the elaboration of philosophical theories of the contemporary age;

- Ability to detect the peculiar features among alternative forms of philosophical argumentation within a shared philosophical, political and cultural tradition.    

 Applying knowledge and understanding

- The student will be able to master the essential theoretical and lexical tools in order to gain the ability to autonomously read and interpret a philosophical work of the contemporary age;

- The student will be able to appreciate the important role of a correct socio-historical contextualisation for an adequate understanding of the texts of the contemporary age.      

 Making judgements

- The student will develop an appropriate critical ability in order to identify the eventual discrepancies between single philosophical texts and their philosophical tradition;

- The student will develop an autonomous capacity in order to properly evaluate the contradictions and the weak reasoning of a philosophical argumentation.   

 Communication skills

- The student will be provided with the necessary skills in order to present to an audience, even not a specialized one, the core issues of a contemporary philosophical text, by focusing in particular on the historical context, on the lexical and argumentative peculiarities within a given philosophical tradition, on the contradictions, weakness and shortcomings from a logical-argumentative point of view.

 Learning skills

- At the end of the course the student will be provided with the necessary tools for an autonomous study of a philosophical text of the contemporary age;

- The student will understand the meaning and importance of the philosophical lexicon, and of extra-philosophical materials, that are essential in order to gain a deep insight of the political-cultural context of a text. This knowledge will allow the student to autonomously approach to the appropriate bibliographical researches.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

No

Teaching

Lectures.

Attendance

The course requires a regular attendance. Alternatively, please make use of the information for not attending students.

Course books

Texts:

1) György Lukács, Storia e coscienza di classe, tr. it. di G. Piana, Sugarco Edizioni, Milano 1991 [ISBN: 88-7198-127-8], pp. vii-xiv (= Preface)  pp. 107-275 (= Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat)

2) Karl Korsch, Marxismo e filosofia, tr. it. di G. Backhaus, Edizioni PGreco, Milano 2012 [ISBN: 9788895563916] (formerly Sugarco Edizioni, Milano 19784) pp. 7-84 (and the notes pp. 129-158)

3)  The primary sources inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it  

Literature (mandatory):

1) István Mészáros, Marx «filosofo», in Eric J. Hobsbawm  (a cura di), Storia del marxismo, vol. 1, Il marxismo ai tempi di Marx, Einaudi, Torino 1978, pp. 119-143.

2) Lubomír Sochor, Lukács e Korsch: la discussione filosofica degli anni venti, in Eric J. Hobsbawm  (a cura di), Storia del marxismo, vol. 3, Il marxismo nell’età della Terza Internazionale, tomo I, Dalla rivoluzione d’Ottobre alla crisi del ’29, Einaudi, Torino 1980, pp. 697-752.

Literature (optional):

3) Georges Haupt, Marx e il marxismo, in Eric J. Hobsbawm  (a cura di), Storia del marxismo, vol. 1, Il marxismo ai tempi di Marx, Einaudi, Torino 1978,  pp. 289-314.

4) Nicolao Merker, Karl Marx. Vita e opere, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2015.

5) Karl Korsch, Karl Marx. Un’interpretazione marxista, PGreco, Milano 2017 (già Id., Karl Marx, Laterza, Bari 1969)  

6) Axel Honneth, Reificazione. Sulla teoria del riconoscimento, Meltemi, Roma 2019   

Assessment

The examination consists in an oral exam. Students are required to read and comment on single passages of the two texts. Students are expected to be able to grasp the main theoretical features of the examined passages and to be able to contextualize them within the text, eventually with reference to the secondary literature.

Particular attention is given to the oral exposure’s capacity through the proper terminology.

Students are expected to be able to develop a critical approach to the theories they studied. In the evaluation, particular attention will be given to the student’s ability to autonomously reformulate the materials they dealt with and to their ability to make comparisons between the authors they studied.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Attendance

Not attending students can contact the teacher in the office hours to ask for explanations about the content of the tests for the exam.

Please contact the teacher, preferably personally, at least three months in advance of the scheduled date of the exam.

Course books

Texts:

1) György Lukács, Storia e coscienza di classe, tr. it. di G. Piana, Sugarco Edizioni, Milano 1991 [ISBN: 88-7198-127-8], pp. vii-xiv (= Preface)  pp. 107-275 (= Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat)

2) Karl Korsch, Marxismo e filosofia, tr. it. di G. Backhaus, Edizioni PGreco, Milano 2012 [ISBN: 9788895563916] (formerly Sugarco Edizioni, Milano 19784). Limitatamente pp. 7-84 (and the notes pp. 129-158)

3) The primary sources inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it    

Literature (mandatory):

1) István Mészáros, Marx «filosofo», in Eric J. Hobsbawm  (a cura di), Storia del marxismo, vol. 1, Il marxismo ai tempi di Marx, Einaudi, Torino 1978, pp. 119-143.

2) Lubomír Sochor, Lukács e Korsch: la discussione filosofica degli anni venti, in Eric J. Hobsbawm  (a cura di), Storia del marxismo, vol. 3, Il marxismo nell’età della Terza Internazionale, tomo I, Dalla rivoluzione d’Ottobre alla crisi del ’29, Einaudi, Torino 1980, pp. 697-752.

3) The secondary sources inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it  

Only one text between nr. 3,4,5:

3) Nicolao Merker, Karl Marx. Vita e opere, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2015.

4) Karl Korsch, Karl Marx. Un’interpretazione marxista, PGreco, Milano 2017 (già Id., Karl Marx, Laterza, Bari 1969)

5) Axel Honneth, Reificazione. Sulla teoria del riconoscimento, Meltemi, Roma 2019   

Reference essay (optional):

6)  Georges Haupt, Marx e il marxismo, in Eric J. Hobsbawm  (a cura di), Storia del marxismo, vol. 1, Il marxismo ai tempi di Marx, Einaudi, Torino 1978,  pp. 289-314.

Assessment

The examination consists in an oral exam. Students are required to read and comment on single passages of the two texts. Students are expected to be able to grasp the main theoretical features of the examined passages and to be able to contextualize them within the text, eventually with reference to the secondary literature.

Particular attention is given to the oral exposure’s capacity through the proper terminology.

Students are expected to be able to develop a critical approach to the theories they studied. In the evaluation, particular attention will be given to the student’s ability to autonomously reformulate the materials they dealt with and to their ability to make comparisons between the authors they studied.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.