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

- elaborate an appropriate historical-social contextualization of a modern 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 modern 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).

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was not only, together with D'Alembert, the creator and author of the Encyclopédie, but also an intrepid philosopher, writer and political thinker. Critic of despotism and advocate of a radical form of democracy, Diderot stands out for the audacity of his philosophical concepts, inspired by a rigorous but not reductive materialism, and for his proposals on ethics and aesthetics. He elaborated and disseminated his ideas not only in pamphlets, dialogues and treatises, but also in some extraordinary novels. Two of them in particular - Le neveu de Rameu and Jacques le fataliste et son maître - exerted a powerful influence on later thought.

This course will address and analyse some of Diderot's works from the point of view of the intertwining of the more strictly metaphysical dimension with the political and literary one.

1. Introduction to the course. The life of a man from the "tiers état"

2. Pensées philosophiques and Additions aux Pensées philosophiques

3. Lettre sur les aveugles

4. Interpretation de la Nature

5. Le rêve de D'Alembert

6. Jacques le fataliste et son maître

7. Le neveu de Rameau.

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

Teaching

Lectures.

Course books

D. Diderot, Scritti filosofici, a cura di P. Rossi, Milano, SE, 2016.

D. Diderot, Il nipote di Rameau. Jacques il fatalista, a cura di L. Binni, Milano, Garzanti, 2019.

General section:

M. Mori, Storia della filosofia moderna, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2007, capp. 14, 15 e 18.

Monografic course:

P. Quintili, Illuminismo ed enciclopedia, Roma, Carocci, 2005

Additional texts for further study:

C. Duflo, Diderot du matérialisme à la politique, Paris, CNRS éd., 2013

C. Duflo, Diderot philosophe, Paris, Champion, 2013

A. Ibrahim, Diderot: un matérialisme éclectique, Paris, Vrin, 2010

D. Lecourt, Diderot. Passions, sexe, raison, Paris, PUF, 2013

Lumières, matérialisme et morale. Autour de Diderot, textes réunis en hommage à Jean-Claude Bourdin, sous la direction de Colas Duflo, Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 2016

P. Quintili, Materialismes et Lumieres : philosophies de la vie, autour de Diderot et de quelques autres 1706-1789,  Paris, Honoré Champion, 2009

J. Starobinski, Diderot, un diable de ramage, Paris, Gallimard, 2012

Assessment

The examination consists of 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 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.

Teaching

Not attending students will have to study the texts listed under "Course books". To replace the lesson hours (36), not attending students will have to write a short text (between 10,000 and 20,000 characters) based on the study of Mori's book, Storia della filosofia moderna, on one of the following topics:

1) The Encyclopédie: arts et métiers, and a new worldview

2) Religious tolerance and political government: Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu

3) Italian Enlightenment: characteristics and protagonists

4) Philosophy and religion in German Enlightenment: Lessing, Hamann, Jacobi

5) Poetry and philosophy in Hölderlin and Novalis

6) The conception of history and civilisation: Herder, Goethe, Schiller and Humboldt.

The text should be sent to the teacher well in advance of the exam date.

Attendance

Not attending students are required to contact the teacher well in advance of the exam date.

Course books

D. Diderot, Scritti filosofici, a cura di P. Rossi, Milano, SE, 2016.

D. Diderot, Il nipote di Rameau. Jacques il fatalista, a cura di L. Binni, Milano, Garzanti, 2019.

General section:

M. Mori, Storia della filosofia moderna, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2007, capp. 14, 15 e 18.

Monografic course:

P. Quintili, Illuminismo ed enciclopedia, Roma, Carocci, 2005

Additional texts for further study:

C. Duflo, Diderot du matérialisme à la politique, Paris, CNRS éd., 2013

C. Duflo, Diderot philosophe, Paris, Champion, 2013

A. Ibrahim, Diderot: un matérialisme éclectique, Paris, Vrin, 2010

D. Lecourt, Diderot. Passions, sexe, raison, Paris, PUF, 2013

Lumières, matérialisme et morale. Autour de Diderot, textes réunis en hommage à Jean-Claude Bourdin, sous la direction de Colas Duflo, Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 2016

P. Quintili, Materialismes et Lumieres : philosophies de la vie, autour de Diderot et de quelques autres 1706-1789,  Paris, Honoré Champion, 2009

J. Starobinski, Diderot, un diable de ramage, Paris, Gallimard, 2012

Assessment

Oral examination (70% of the vote), and a written paper (30% of the vote).

The examination consists of 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 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.

At the student's request, the course bibliography can also be provided - and the exam taken - in English, Spanish, French and German.