HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

The course offers historical and comparative analysis of philosophical thought from its origins to Kant. You will face the main ideas around man, nature, God, happiness, social life, and the possibility of a scientific knowledge of the world and the universe. To this end we will probe four historical eras, from antiquity to the modern era. They will be organized thematically into four groups: The classic era and the birth of philosophy in the West; The theological influences; The hope for a better life; Philosophy and science between rationalism and empiricism.

The monographic section will be devoted to the relationship between nature, man and society. This relationship will be expressed through an historical approach that will link myths, philosophy and science.

The course includes two parts.

The first part provides a basic understanding of the history of Western philosophy from Thales to Kant. L’indagine sulla natura – I sofisti e Socrate – Platone e l’Accademia antica – Aristotele – L’età ellenistica: scetticismo, stoicismo epicureismo – L’incontro tra filosofia greca e religioni bibliche – Plotino e il neoplatonismo – La patristica e Agostino d’Ippona – La prima scolastica: Giovanni Scoto Eriugena, Anselmo d’Aosta, Abelardo – La filosofia araba: Averroè – Il trionfo della scolastica: Bonaventura di Bagnorea, Tommaso d’Aquino e Ruggero Bacone – Il XIII secolo e la dine della scolastica: Giovanni Duns Scoto, Guglielmo do Ockam – La filosofia del Quattrocento, l’umanesimo e il Rinascimento: il platonismo fiorentino, Cusano, Ficino e Pico della Mirandola – Il cinquecento: Telesio, Bruno, Campanella – Il pensiero scientifico nel Cinquecento e nel Seicento: Copernico, Brahe, Keplero, Galilei, Newton – Gli inizi della filosofia moderna: Francesco Bacone e Cartesio – Hobbes – Cartesianesimo e giansenismo: Pascal – Spinoza – Locke – Leibniz – Vico – Berkeley – Hume – L’illuminismo francese – L’illuminismo italiano – Kant.

The second part concerns two studies:
1. mythology and its possible relationship with the individual's psychic life (text 2);
2. instincts, personal development and happiness. Freud, Marcuse and the biology of contemporary behavior (text 3 and notes).

1. E. Berti – F. Volpi, Storia della filosofia, Editori Laterza, Roma–Bari (Compact edition – first volume, marked with the letter A [around 400 pages]). Mandatory parts: Antichità e medioevo: Introduzione, Capp. 1, 2, 3 (§§ 1–6), 4 (§§ 1–8), 5, 7, 8 (§§ 2, 4, 5), 9 (§ 3), 10 (§§1–3), 11 (§ 4), 12 (§§ 1–4), 13 (§§ 2, 4), 14 (§ 3). L’età moderna: Capp. 1 (§§ 1, 3–5), 2 (§§ 5, 6), 3, 4, 5 (§ 2), 6 (§§ 2–3), 7, 8 (§ 3), 9, 10 (§ 2), 11 (§§ 1–2, 4, 5), 12 (§§ 1, 3, 4, 6, 7), 13 (§§ 7–8), 15.
2. E. Coco, Dal cosmo al mare. La naturalizzazione del mito e la funzione filosofica, Olschki, 2017 [around 150 pages]
3. H. Marcuse, Eros e civiltà, Einaudi, 2001 [around 200 pages around 300 pages; it is possible to use also the English edition]
4. Lecture notes and excerpts from the works of authors [they will be available on internet: please, see Studium web platform]