The course will focus on a theoretical investigation of the main ethical and political implications of all the arguments that will be addressed. The objective is to acquire technical language and enhancing reading, comprehension and commentating abilities of philosophical material. The student will acquire the knowledge useful to deal with fundamental conceptual conundrums.

The pages of the Spinozian Theological-political Treatise, a true 'manifesto' of freedom of thought and expression, published anonymously in Amsterdam in 1670, together with the reading and commentary of some key passages of the Ethics , in which the philosopher outlines his political anthropology, will the tools to focus on the "Spinoza problem" (according to the expression of the Yalom novel of the same name in 2012) and to grasp its evident modernity.

I

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The graduates must be able to:

comprehend and illustrate elementary and intermediate philosophical material; deal with classical problems from history and theory of philosophy, ethics and politics; use bibliographical and informational instruments that are relevant to the subject; know the problems of the subject with critical regard.

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

It is expected an active collaboration with both the permanent seminar "Spinoza e il pensiero filosofico moderno" .

Teaching

Lectures and seminars.

Attendance

It is required a regular attendance to the course (equal to AT LEAST 2/3 of the lectures). If the student does not attend to the course, he must refer, for the course material, to the "NO attendance" section.

Course books

A.     Philosophical material

B. Spinoza, Trattato teologico-politico, traduzione e commenti di A. Droetto ed E. Giancotti Boscherini, Postfazione di P. Totaro, Einaudi, Torino 2000

ID., Etica, a cura di E. Giancotti, Editori Riuniti, Roma 1988

Alternatively, the Italian translation by R. Cantoni and F. Fergnani of 

B. Spinoza, Etica - Trattato teologico-politico, UTET, Torino 2017

Alternatively, the Italian translation by R. Cantoni and F. Fergnani of

The chapters of the TTP and the parts of the Ethics subject of study and specific comment will be indicated in class.

B.     Critical materials

M. Iannucci, Libertà politica e religione in Spinoza. Saggio sul «Trattato teologico-politico» e sul «Trattato politico», Mimesis, 2019 (expecially Prefazione, Introduzione and II Part, ch. I-V).

or

E. Balibar, Spinoza e la politica, Manifestolibri, Roma 1996   (first ed. Spinoza et la politique, PUF, Paris 1985)

For further details, see the volume by

D. Collacciani, B. Gramusset, P.-F. Moreau, F. Toto, Philosophie, religion, pouvoir, Lectures du "Traité théologico-politique", Harmattan, Paris 2021.

Students of the modern literary curriculum can also take advantage of the reading of the novel by I. D. Yalom, Il problema Spinoza, Neri Pozza Editore, Vicenza 2012 (The Spinoza Problem, Basic Books, New York, 2012)

Further references will be provided during the course. 

Assessment

It is required a regular attendance to the course (equal to AT LEAST 2/3 of the lectures). If the student does not attend to the course, he must refer, for the course material, to the "NO attendance" section.

The evaluation criteria for the examination will be the following:

-  Relevance and effectiveness of the responses with reference to the contents of the course’s program;

-  Complexity of the responses;

-  Adequacy of the technical language of the discipline.

The final evaluation will be expressed in thirtieths according to the following scale: 30 and praise = excellent; 30 = very good / excellent; 27-29 = good; 24-26 = discrete; 21-23 = sufficient; 18-21 = just enough. The exam is not passed when the essential knowledge is not acquired, the understanding and re-elaboration of the learned contents is poor and the disciplinary lexicon is not proper. 

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.

Teaching

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Attendance

It is required that the student makes contact with the lecturer at least TWO  months in advance.

Course books

Please refer to the above points (A) and (B).

For the Theological-political Treatise, the study of the Preface and the chapters I, II, VI, VII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XIX, XX will be indispensable for the examination interview. As regards to the Ethics, at least knowledge of the Appendix to Part I, of the Preface to Part III and Part IV and of the “general definitions of the affects” placed at the end of Part III will be necessary.

Non-attending students will also ADD  to points (A) and (B) of the exam program indicated above the reading of (C):

P. Pozzi, "Homo homini deus". L'ideale umano di Spinoza, a cura di S. Ferrario. Mimesis, Milano 2019 (expecially Introduzione and ch. V, VI, VII)

Assessment

Oral exam on all the material at point (A), (B) and (C). Optional essay which has to be agreed upon with the lecturer in advance.

The evaluation criteria for the examination will be the following:

-  Relevance and effectiveness of the responses with reference to the contents of the course’s program;

-  Complexity of the responses;

-  Adequacy of the technical language of the discipline.

The final evaluation will be expressed in thirtieths according to the following scale: 30 and praise = excellent; 30 = very good / excellent; 27-29 = good; 24-26 = discrete; 21-23 = sufficient; 18-21 = just enough. The exam is not passed when the essential knowledge is not acquired, the understanding and re-elaboration of the learned contents is poor and the disciplinary lexicon is not proper. 

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.