Two fundamental things for democracy are disappearing in our time: the need to associate in the "social chain" to draw up the mystery of the human and the concept of limit. Without the awareness that we become human and free only through the others - when we realize that we do not pay to ourselves to live - there can be no effectively democratic polis, the one in which standards, values ??and meanings are not established and extrastoric but a continuous and always provisional work of building civil coexistence, sharing of human indetermination. Democracy is then the consonant regime with the indefinitness of man. As the human being is not predetermined by a regulatory code, so democracy is not based on standards and meanings imposed from above once and for all. Human indetermination and democratic autonomy are held, and democracy is the field of solidarity, in which the inhabitants, in the construction of autonomy, also build themselves, elaborate and realize and reason of their common lack.

The course intends to present the birth of democracy in the fifteenth century, in which philosophy and democracy tragedy are born for the first time in human history, linked precisely by human indetermination. Thus we proceed in the description of the historical context and in the analysis of some tragedies of sophocles in which the tragic link of democracy emerges with great clarity. The trend lines of the current dissolution of democracy and its particular explosion in some contemporary political phenomena (abstract liberalism, "populism", "sovereignism") will also be exposed.

I.1 - What is human indetermination

I.2 - Human indetermination and philosophy in Athens between VI and V Century

I.3 - Democracy, tragedy and philosophy: the great inventions of the Mediterranean

I.4 - Autonomy and heteronomy

II.1 - Upsipolis and apolis in the antigue of Sophocles

II.2 - One and multiple and their interpenetration as the foundation of democratic polis

II.3 - Imperfection of the Human existential city / precariousness as the foundation of democracy

III.1 - Edipo and Enlightenment

III.2 - Tiresia and the reasons for human complexity

III.3 - Blind edipo as Tyresia. What does it mean?

III.4 - Dialectics between protest of Authority and Reaffirmation of the Authority as a characteristic of the democratic polis against human indetermination.

IV. - Edipo at Colono between democratic autonomy and awareness of human complexity

IV. - Pericle funeral prayer: context.

IV. - The idea of ​​culture and pays that emerges from the speech of Pericle.

IV. - Democracy and Paideia: an independable link.

V. - Today's crisis of democracy

V.1. - Abstract liberalism, populism, sovereignism

V.2. - Today's crisis of the idea of ​​Paideia

YOU. - School and Democracy

None

In relation to the specificities of the discipline, is required:

Knowledge and understanding:
- Knowledge of the fundamental themes of the History of contemporary philosophy exposed in class and deepened in the textbooks and understanding of its fundamental concepts in their political consequences (see Educational objectives);
- Knowledge of the historical and socio-political dynamics exposed in class and deepened in the textbooks and understanding of the processes that have innervated them;
- Understanding of the building blocks of modern democracy and of the left / right and top / bottom axes;

Applied knowledge and understanding:
- Ability to orientate oneself in contemporary political debate and to understand the elements that today can strengthen or further weaken modern democracy.

Making judgments:
- Ability to take an independent position with respect to the main historical-political issues of debate and contemporary conflicts (eg centralization and spectacularisation of power; migration; "conflicts of civilizations", etc. etc.)

Communication skills:
- Ability to communicate what has been learned in the appropriate forms for a university-level study; ability to transmit and communicate the fundamental aspects and principles of democratic politics (nexus freedom / equality and couple recognition / exclusion) also in basic educational work.

Ability to learn
- Based on the knowledge acquired through the course, the student must be able to independently build in-depth courses and understand which readings and experiences can help him in this 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

The course will be carried out with the support of prof. Claudio Bazzocchi.

Teaching

Frontal lessons and seminar.

Attendance

At the beginning of the course a verification of the initial preparation of the students inherent to the main historical-philosophical problems may be carried out. On this basis, students will attend an intensive seminar to strengthen their skills.

Course books

- C. Bazzocchi, Il misterioso zoppicare dell’uomo. Indeterminazione umana, democrazia, autorità e libertà, Meltemi, Milano 2020.

- Sofocle, Edipo re – Edipo a Colono – Antigone, Einaudi, Torino 2014.

- Tucidide, Discorso di Pericle agli ateniesi, in La guerra del Peloponneso, II, 36-44 https://www.coroilgabbiano.it/note%20musicali/discorso_di_pericle_agli_ateniesi.pdf

- Stefano G. Azzarà:  "Sovranismo" o questione nazionale? Il rinselvatichimento socialsciovinista nella politica odierna, in A. Barile (a cura di), Il secondo tempo del populismo. Sovranismi e lotte di classe, Momo edizioni, Roma 2020, pp. 15-78,

- Stefano G. Azzarà: Il populismo socialsciovinista bianco, l’Europa e la ricolonizzazione del mondo, " DIALETTICA E FILOSOFIA", luglio 2019, disponibile a http://dialetticaefilosofia.it/scheda-dialettica-saggi.asp?id=109&fbclid=IwAR1RhTwordE4VVMCh8viH4LqhlBaOILzwAviMAV3q3P8AfP5gjQC-vcxpzY .

Assessment

The exam aims to ascertain the student's understanding and knowledge with respect to the educational objectives of the course and his ability to present them in a reasoned way: it will therefore be an oral exam.

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

Non-attending students will have to support the same program as attending students, helping in particular with the materials available on the Moodle platform and coordinating with the teacher and his assistants:

- C. Bazzocchi, Il misterioso zoppicare dell’uomo. Indeterminazione umana, democrazia, autorità e libertà, Meltemi, Milano 2020.

- Sofocle, Edipo re – Edipo a Colono – Antigone, Einaudi, Torino 2014.

- Tucidide, Discorso di Pericle agli ateniesi, in La guerra del Peloponneso, II, 36-44 https://www.coroilgabbiano.it/note%20musicali/discorso_di_pericle_agli_ateniesi.pdf

- Stefano G. Azzarà:  "Sovranismo" o questione nazionale? Il rinselvatichimento socialsciovinista nella politica odierna, in A. Barile (a cura di), Il secondo tempo del populismo. Sovranismi e lotte di classe, Momo edizioni, Roma 2020, pp. 15-78,

- Stefano G. Azzarà: Il populismo socialsciovinista bianco, l’Europa e la ricolonizzazione del mondo, " DIALETTICA E FILOSOFIA", luglio 2019, disponibile a http://dialetticaefilosofia.it/scheda-dialettica-saggi.asp?id=109&fbclid=IwAR1RhTwordE4VVMCh8viH4LqhlBaOILzwAviMAV3q3P8AfP5gjQC-vcxpzY .

Attendance

None

Course books

As for attending students.

Assessment

As for attending students. For non-attending students, the final exam will only refer to the texts in the program and not to the lessons.

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.