The course aims at providing the necessary skills in order to grasp a philosophical text from the modern and contemporary ages. 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 one of the most important European philosophers of the 18th century. Nicknamed "philosophe" by his friends, he took part in all the important questions of metaphysics, philosophy of nature, moral philosophy and political philosophy of his time. In this course, however, we will consider him as a theorist of aesthetics. In several writings, Diderot dealt with fundamental issues ranging from the theory of beauty to painting, from theatre to poetry. He was the author of revolutionary novels (such as The Nephew of Rameau and Jacques the Fatalist) and also wrote numerous short stories. In all his production, even his strictly philosophical ones, the dimension of the "beauty" is never really separable from the search for the "truth".

By examining a selection of his writings on aesthetics, we will develop the principal issues raised by Diderot and show his original contribution in this field.

1. Introduction to the course

1.1. The Life of a Man of the Third Estate

1.2. Introducing Diderot. Salon 1765: Fragonard and Plato's Cave

2. Paradox about the actor

3. Treatise on the Beautiful

4. Treatise on Dramatic Poetry

5. Essays on Painting

6. Salon 1767

7. The Two Friends of Bourbonne.

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

The course will combine lectures with innovative teaching and learning methods. The lecturer will deliver a series of lectures in the first part of the course. In the second part, students will take turns lecturing and presenting a study topic, while the others will act as discussants. At the end of the course, students will agree with the lecturer on a written paper, which they will hand in before taking the exam.

Innovative teaching methods

The course will combine lectures with innovative teaching and learning methods. The lecturer will deliver a series of lectures in the first part of the course. In the second part, students will take turns lecturing and presenting a study topic, while the others will act as discussants. At the end of the course, students will agree with the lecturer on a written paper, which they will hand in before taking the exam.

Course books

General section:

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

Monografic course:

D. Diderot, Scritti di estetica, a cura di G. Neri, Milano, Abscondita, 2016

In addition, one text chosen among the following:

Actualité de Diderot. Pour une nouvelle esthétique, sous la direction de M. Mazzocut-Mis, R. Messori, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2016

R. Barthes, S. M. Ejzenštejn, J. F. Lyotard, Diderot e il demone dell'arte, a cura di M. Bertolini, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2014

H. Dieckmann, Il realismo di Diderot, Bari, Laterza, 1977

R. Messori, La descrizione animata. Arte, poetica e materialismo sensibile in Diderot, Pisa, ETS, 2017

V. Sperotto, Introduzione alla filosofia di Diderot, Bologna, CLUEB, 2022.

Assessment

For attending students: lesson (40% of the grade), written paper (30% of the grade) and oral exam (30% of the grade).

The examination consists of an oral exam. Students are required to read and comment on single passages of the 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 study one book more than the others and 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

General section:

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

Monografic course:

D. Diderot, Scritti di estetica, a cura di G. Neri, Milano, Abscondita, 2016

In addition, two texts chosen among the following:

Actualité de Diderot. Pour une nouvelle esthétique, sous la direction de M. Mazzocut-Mis, R. Messori, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2016

R. Barthes, S. M. Ejzenštejn, J. F. Lyotard, Diderot e il demone dell'arte, a cura di M. Bertolini, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2014

H. Dieckmann, Il realismo di Diderot, Bari, Laterza, 1977

R. Messori, La descrizione animata. Arte, poetica e materialismo sensibile in Diderot, Pisa, ETS, 2017

V. Sperotto, Introduzione alla filosofia di Diderot, Bologna, CLUEB, 2022.

Assessment

For non-attending students: oral exam (70% of the grade) and written paper (70% of the grade).

The examination consists of an oral exam. Students are required to read and comment on single passages of the 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.