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).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot: two models of Criticism

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's two discourses (On the Sciences and the Arts, 1750; On the Origin and Foundations of Inequality in the Mankind, 1754) mark a decisive turning point in the controversy on luxury taking place in 18th century France. With great critical force, Rousseau intervenes in the debate, shifting it towards an interrogation of the meaning of inequality, its origin and the way it changes (corrupts) human nature. Starting from these premises, Rousseau reconstructs the way in which the progressive but not inexorable (indeed largely due to a great accumulation of successive accidents) exit from the state of nature has produced the civilised world, that is, the world as we know it and believe it to be immutable. From this perspective, the nature/civilisation, nature/civilisation, nature/moral alternative becomes a radical critique of common sense. Rousseau thus enters into the discussions sparked by the comparison between the "savages" of the "West Indies" (i.e. Native Americans) and the civilised inhabitants of Europe.

Diderot's Supplement to Bougainville's Journey (1772) represents a reprise of many themes raised in the Discourses of Rousseau, who had been a great friend of his from 1747 until the dramatic break between the two in 1759. Unlike Rousseau, however, Diderot is not interested in reconstructing the genealogy of Western civil society, nor in how we move from natural equality to civil inequality. He focuses on two themes that Rousseau had only touched on in passing: firstly, the robbery to which "savage" and "primitive" peoples are subjected by Europe; and secondly, the oppressive and tyrannical character of civilised morality, especially with regard to sexual life.

We will deal with Rousseau's second Discourse and Diderot's Supplement, according to this timetable:

A. Rousseau

1. Life and Personality

2. The Discourse on the Origin of Inequality: Structure and Themes

3. Natural law and civil law. The State as guarantor of social inequality

4. Origin of inequality

5. Passion and reason: from pity to selfishness

6. Marriage and exclusive love

7. Private property and civil society: esteem, honour and reputation: violence and the role of deception

8. Birth of "needs" and the need to work

9. Despotism, religion, oppression.

B. Diderot

1. Life and Personality

2. The Supplement: Genesis and Structure

3. The difference in languages between Tahiti and France

4. The "useless enlightenment": disease, fear and oppression

5. Religious" and "natural" sexual morality: fornication, incest, adultery

6. The eugenics of the Tahitians: powerful population and wealth

7. Laws and customs: the code of nature, the code of religion and the code of society

8. Critique of marriage

9. Tyranny and social and moral oppression

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

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, chap. 14, 15 and 18.

Monographic course:

J.-J- Rousseau, Discorsi. Sulle scienze e sulle arti. Sull'origine della disuguaglianza fra gli uomini, a cura di L. Luporini, Milano, Rizzoli.

D. Diderot, Supplemento al Viaggio di Bougainville, a cura di A. A. Santucci, Roma, Editori Riuniti.

Critical literature:

A. Loche, Leggere il discorso sulla disuguaglianza di Rousseau, Como-Pavia, Ibis, 2019

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

One book among the following:

L. Althusser, L’impensato di Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Milano, Mimesis, 2003

G. Barbini, L’origine della disuguaglianza. Le ragioni della disuguaglianza e della sua critica da Grozio a Rousseau, Firenze, Pagliai, 2016

F. Berti, Purezza e redenzione. Jean-Jacques Rousseau e il diritto naturale, Milano, Wolters Kluwer CEDAM, 2021

E. Cassirer, Rousseau, Roma, Castevecchi, 2015

G. Della Volpe, Rousseau e Marx, Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1997

A. Illuminati, Rousseau. Solitudine e comunità, Roma, manifestolibri, 2002

Il pedagogista Rousseau tra metafisica, etica e politica, a cura di G. Bertagna, Brescia, La scuola, 2014.

Further study materials will be made available on the Moodle platform ' blended.uniurb.it

Assessment

For attending students: lecture (40% of the grade), written paper (30% of the grade) and written examination (30% of the grade).

The assessment of learning involves a written examination. The examination will consist of guided commentary on individual passages from the examination texts. The student must demonstrate the ability to grasp the fundamental theoretical issues of the individual passages and contextualise them within the work, also making reference to secondary literature.

Particular emphasis is placed on exposition skills with appropriate vocabulary.

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

Non-attending students must study the texts listed under "Study Texts". To replace the lesson hours (40), students are expected 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

General section:

M. Mori, Storia della filosofia moderna, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2007, chap. 1-4.

Monographic course:

J.-J- Rousseau, Discorsi. Sulle scienze e sulle arti. Sull'origine della disuguaglianza fra gli uomini, a cura di L. Luporini, Milano, Rizzoli.

D. Diderot, Supplemento al Viaggio di Bougainville, a cura di A. A. Santucci, Roma, Editori Riuniti.

Critical literature:

A. Loche, Leggere il discorso sulla disuguaglianza di Rousseau, Como-Pavia, Ibis, 2019

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

One book among the following:

L. Althusser, L’impensato di Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Milano, Mimesis, 2003

G. Barbini, L’origine della disuguaglianza. Le ragioni della disuguaglianza e della sua critica da Grozio a Rousseau, Firenze, Pagliai, 2016

F. Berti, Purezza e redenzione. Jean-Jacques Rousseau e il diritto naturale, Milano, Wolters Kluwer CEDAM, 2021

E. Cassirer, Rousseau, Roma, Castevecchi, 2015

G. Della Volpe, Rousseau e Marx, Roma, Editori Riuniti, 1997

A. Illuminati, Rousseau. Solitudine e comunità, Roma, manifestolibri, 2002

Il pedagogista Rousseau tra metafisica, etica e politica, a cura di G. Bertagna, Brescia, La scuola, 2014.

Assessment

The assessment of learning involves a written examination. The examination will consist of guided commentary on individual passages from the examination texts. The student must demonstrate the ability to grasp the fundamental theoretical issues of the individual passages and contextualise them within the work, also making reference to secondary literature.

Particular emphasis is placed on exposition skills with appropriate vocabulary.

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.