The course aims to analyze some of the main lines of Western political thought of modernity and the contemporary age , identifying the constitutive moments , the tensionie , the consequences for the contemporary world.The course theme is the relationship between constituent power and constituted power framed in key moments of the formation of political modernity and in the long process of crisis and transformation of the figures of modern political thought in the history of the twentieth century until the threshold of the third millennium.

The first part of the course will be devoted to the understanding of continuity, and broken between the political philosophy of late medieval and the genesis of modern political theory, identifying the two decisive moments in reflection Machiavellian and theological-political doctrines of the Reformation and the Counter ( with a digression on the Arab political thought of the decline). Particular attention will play following the study of the scientific paradigm Hobbesian and its relevance to later thinkers, both in partial perspective of continuity -Locke - and in that criticism more or less radical - the Scottish Enlightenment, Spinoza. A third important step is given by the analysis of the American and French revolutions, interpreted as times when the rush theoretical tensions generated in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but which at the same time open to the political reflection of the contemporary age. The latter will be highlighted the emergence of the issues of democracy and socialism as a theoretical spaces of collective emancipation, and then switch to a synthetic reconstruction of the debate on totalitarianism, and finally to a brief discussion of the concepts of "social state", welfare and progressive democracy after World War II.

No bridging Courses

The course intends to offer elements of contextualization and understanding of concepts in historical perspective, topics and issues of stroria of political thought .The student must demonstrate the ability to situate the authors and problems in contexts and historical dynamics to which they belong . It must demonstrate to conceptualize the differences between the categories and the arguments of the individual authors and moments of the history of political thought .The student must demonstrate the ability to use the concepts, methods and mindset acquired during the learning process as a personal heritage to interpret the contemporary political and social reality; to deconstruct the political rhetoric and the media representative devices.

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 teaching material and specific communications from the lecturer can be found, together with other supporting activities, inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

Lectures. 

Attendance

No attendance is required.

Course books

Alessandro Pandolfi (a cura di), Ordine e mutazione. Figure, concetti e problemi del pensiero politico moderno, Ombrecorte, Verona 2014

Gianluca Bonaiuti, Vittore Collina, Storia delle dottrine politiche, Seconda Edizione, Le Monnier, Firenze 2015, le seguenti parti: Parte seconda, pp. 109-229; Parte terza, Premessa (pp. 233-236), Capitolo 1 (pp. 237-292), Capitolo 2, paragrafi 1 (pp. 293-297), 2 (pp. 297-299), 3 (pp. 299-318) 4 (pp. 319-333), 7 (pp. 369-401)

Students who request to sit the final exam in English have to study the following books:

I. Hampsher-Monk, A History of Modern Political Thought: Major Political Thinkers from Hobbes to Marx, Wiley-Blackwell, London, 1993, the following chapters: 1. Thomas Hobbes. 2. John Locke. 3. David Hume. 4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 5. 'Publius': The Federalist. 7. Jeremy Bentham. 8. John Stuart Mill. 10. Karl Marx.

C.H. Zuckert, Political Philosophy in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011, the following chapters: 1 John Dewey: philosophy as theory of education; 2 Carl Schmitt: political theology and the concept of the political;  3 Antonio Gramsci: liberation begins with critical thinking; 7 Hannah Arendt: from philosophy to politics; 10. Moral pluralism and liberal democracy: Isaiah Berlin’s heterodox liberalism; 14 Jean-Paul Sartre: “in the soup”; 15 Michel Foucault: an ethical politics of care of self and others; 16 J¨urgen Habermas: postwar German political debates and the making of a critical theorist

Assessment

Oral examination.The oral exam allows the student to organize an exhibition clear, fair from the point view of terminology and possibly deepen the individual aspects of the program that have aroused his attention.

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

The teaching material made available by the lecturer can be found, together with other supporting activities, inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Attendance

No attendance is required.

Course books

Alessandro Pandolfi (a cura), Ordine e mutazione. Figure, concetti e problemi del pensiero politico moderno, Ombrecorte, Verona 2014

Gianluca Bonaiuti, Vittore Collina, Storia delle dottrine politiche, Seconda Edizione, Le Monnier, Firenze 2015, le seguenti parti: Parte seconda, pp. 109-229; Parte terza, Premessa (pp. 233-236), Capitolo 1 (pp. 237-292), Capitolo 2, paragrafi 1 (pp. 293-297), 2 (pp. 297-299), 3 (pp. 299-318) 4 (pp. 319-333), 7 (pp. 369-401)

Students who request to sit the final exam in English have to study the following books:

I. Hampsher-Monk, A History of Modern Political Thought: Major Political Thinkers from Hobbes to Marx, Wiley-Blackwell, London, 1993, the following chapters: 1. Thomas Hobbes. 2. John Locke. 3. David Hume. 4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 5. 'Publius': The Federalist. 7. Jeremy Bentham. 8. John Stuart Mill. 10. Karl Marx.

C.H. Zuckert, Political Philosophy in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011, the following chapters: 1 John Dewey: philosophy as theory of education; 2 Carl Schmitt: political theology and the concept of the political;  3 Antonio Gramsci: liberation begins with critical thinking; 7 Hannah Arendt: from philosophy to politics; 10. Moral pluralism and liberal democracy: Isaiah Berlin’s heterodox liberalism; 14 Jean-Paul Sartre: “in the soup”; 15 Michel Foucault: an ethical politics of care of self and others; 16 J¨urgen Habermas: postwar German political debates and the making of a critical theory

Assessment

Oral examination.The oral exam allows the student to organize an exhibition clear, fair from the point view of terminology and possibly deepen the individual aspects of the program that have aroused his attention.

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.

The student can request to sit the final exam in English with an alternative bibliography (see above).