OVERVIEW

Ethics is not only the study and critical analysis of the customs handed down, but it is a philosophically founded research of the Good aimed at the practice and the art of living together. It is the tension of the mortal being towards the eternal, in the distinct but not unrelated ways of life: aesthetic, political, philosophical, religious, scientific. It is the wisdom of good death. It is, in short, the phenomenology of the eternal in the time of mortal existence.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Being able to analyze the origins of Ethics in Greek philosophy, and to question the idea of Ethics as the 'prime philosophy' in modern and contemporary philosophical currents. Getting acquainted with the Platonic-Aristotelian tradition and being able to inquire into the philosophical connections (from Kant onwards) between ethics and metaphysics, ethics and religion, ethics and ontology, ethics and politics, ethics and history. Developing one's independent, critical thinking, one's creative thinking, and the philosophical orienteering abilities needed to face challenges in every domain of life.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course the student should be able to: use the basic vocabulary of the discipline; assimilate the fundamental concepts in a critical and personal form;  discuss in an original way the contents, the evolutionary lines, the permanent problems.

PREREQUISITES

Beyond the previous studies, is important the student's will to involve himself actively in the understanding of texts of ancient, medieval, modern, contemporary philosophers, assimilating as far as possible their mother tongue; to engage personally in the interpretation of the classics of philosophical thought in the light of current ethical issues and permanent questions of philosophy.

TEACHING METHODS

The course consists in lectures. The lessons take place on suggested texts and topics chosen, from time to time, by the teacher, referred to qualifying points of the course, according to different perspectives in order to prompt, as far as possible, the active dialogue and the active involvement of the students. The comparative exercise and the critical spirit should favor the occurrence, in the attending students, of the interest and the taste for autonomous and personal research.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Contents

Contents for students who are taking the 6-CFU course

Always and in various ways philosophy, as the wisdom of life, is preparation, anticipation, meditation of death - and of life through death. In fact, we would hardly have been able to philosophize without death, which is the true inspiring genius of high and profound philosophy, from Socrates to Heidegger. And always philosophy is, as in Socrates or Epicurus, medicine and therapy, an attempt to free the mortal from the fear of death, an introduction to the art of living and the phenomenology of the eternal in the temporality of existence; and it can also be, as for example in Plato, the foundation of human hope in front of death.

There is, however, a secret and essential link between freedom and death, if freedom if he goes in search of freedom, and how dear that is / the man who gives up life for it well knows (Purgatory, I, 70-72); taking quotations from Seneca and Montaigne, la préméditation de la mort est préméditation de la liberté, so much that qui a appris à mourir, il a désappris à servir.

Under the title The philosopher, freedom and death, the course, taking up themes that had already been sketched, invites serious and scholarly students to unravel the crux of these and other intricate relationships through the reading of significant pages of ancient, modern and contemporaries philosophers.

Contents for students who are taking the 9-CFU course

The second module of the course will further integrate the themes of the first module and further develops its contents, orientating them to current events.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The reading list for this course, together with the lecturer's suggestions and instructions are available on the Italian version of the web page. 

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

DOMENICO VENTURELLI (President)

FRANCESCO CAMERA

ROBERTO CELADA BALLANTI

SIMONA LANGELLA

DANIELE ROLANDO

LESSONS

LESSONS START

February 11, 2019

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam takes place in oral, dialogical form, and focuses mainly on authors and texts, themes and problems discussed during the lessons. The submission of a paper is optional and does not replace the oral exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

In the final evaluation will be taken into consideration:

the level of of the lexicon and of the basic notions of the discipline; the level of understanding of philosophical texts in their historical context, but also to in their supra-historical meaning; the ability to critically argue and discuss permanent questions and fundamental ethical questions in innovative and personal forms.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Attendance and direct contact with the teacher are recommended.