OVERVIEW

This course aims to introduce to theoretical philosophy, starting from the question of human nature and presenting the most significant methods of philosophical investigation. Contemporary  questions are put in relation to other forms of knowledge and in comparison with conceptual models offered by the philosophical tradition. This learning-teaching activity is intended to make the contents, the argumentative techniques and the ways of reasoning in use in contemporary philosophy familiar to the student.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students will receive essential information about the contemporary discussion on human nature and on the most relevant  concepts involved in it.

They will be expected to acquire the capacity to reflect in a critical way about philosophical issues, and use suitable vocabulary to discuss concrete cases and examples.

Students will learn to use their skills to build up opinions about philosophical themes founded on coherent and solid arguments.

They will acquire the capacity to orient themselves in philosophical and argumentative texts in general, and to read them critically.

TEACHING METHODS

The course will not consist only of lectures, introducing the main issues of the course and analyzing concepts and problems, but  requires active participation by all students.

The participants will be involved in exercises of philosophical analysis and argumentation, in the clarification and discussion of philosophical concepts and concepts in common use.

The slides used during the lectures will be made available on Aulaweb.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Human beings, animals, machines
"We are not machines"; "I am not an animal" - these and similar expressions are part of common language. Are they really justified, are we really able to give reasons for them? Is there something that actually distinguishes the human animal unequivocally from all other animals and from machines? One of the tasks of philosophy is to question ideas that seem natural, concepts on which we rely in our speech, transforming tacit assumptions into theses that we are able to argue (or to review critically). This task is now often made more difficult by changes in scientific knowledge and technology: the knowledge we have today about non-human animals, the projects to produce artificial intelligence and even artificial consciousness, the neuroscientific investigations on the human brain make the classic question about human nature - "what is the human being?" - particularly complex. This course offers some tools that make a first orientation about the contemporary debate on human nature possible and to appreciate its relevance for our culture and our choices.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

compulsory reading:

1) D.C. Dennett, La mente e le menti. Verso una comprensione della coscienza, Sansoni, Milano, 1997.
2) 
 J. Dupré, Natura umana. Perché la scienza non basta, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2007.

3) a third book should be chosen among following texts:

- M. De Carolis, La vita nell’epoca della sua riproducibilità tecnica, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2004.
- F. de Waal, Primati e filosofi. Evoluzione e moralità, Garzanti, Milano, 2008.
- F. de Waal, La scimmia che siamo. Il passato e il futuro della natura umana, Garzanti, Milano, 2006.
- M. Rowlands, Il lupo e il filosofo, Mondadori, Milano, 2015.
- Y. Castelfranchi / O. Stock, Macchine come noi. La scommessa dell'Intelligenza Artificiale, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2003.
- G. Edelman, Più grande del cielo. Lo straordinario dono fenomenico della coscienza, Einaudi, Torino, 2004.
- F. Remotti, Contro natura, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2008.
- I. Tattersall, La scimmia allo specchio, Meltemi, Roma, 2003.
- J. Habermas, Il futuro della natura umana, Einaudi, Torino, 2002.
- R. Marchesini, L. Caffo, Così parlò il Postumano, Aprilia, Novalogos, 2014.
- T. Metzinger, Il tunnel dell’io, Cortina, Milano, 2010.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

CLAUDIO LA ROCCA (President)

ALESSANDRA MODUGNO

LESSONS

LESSONS START

February 21, 2017

Class schedule

THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam: discussion on the proposed readings

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The aim of the oral exam is to assess 1) the student's ability to orient her/himself in texts; 2) the student’s capacity to identify underlying concepts and argumentative techniques; 3) the student’s capacity to understand and carry out philosophical reasoning and to deal with  philosophical questions. It intends to verify not just knowledge but the acquisition of skills of analysis and discussion of philosophical issues.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Foreign students can arrange with the teacher to read texts in English or in other languages