OVERVIEW

By means of a historical reconstruction, the course wants to spur students to work in depth on the main authors, who influenced the development of Western political thought.

AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to allow students to acquire critical skills, in order to make them able to interpret the significance of expressions and terms typical of the political thought, with particular attention to linguistic and institutional and historical contexts. In this way, the knowledge of elements with regard to the historical reconstruction of these contexts is a needed learning objective. More specifically, the learning objectives consist in being able to place a wide range of authors, from Socrate to Cicero, from Dante to Machiavelli, from Bodin to Locke, from Montesquieu to Rousseau and Marx and J.S. Mill, in their institutional and linguistic historical contexts.

TEACHING METHODS

Classes will be held in Italian. 

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The syllabus includes the following authors: 

 Socrate;

Platone; 

Aristotele; 

Polibio;

Cicerone; 

S. Agostino;

S. Tommaso;

Dante;

Marsilio;

Machiavelli;

Bodin;

Hobbes;

Spinoza;

Locke;

Montesquieu;

Rousseau;

Hume;

Smith;

Vico; 

Gli autori del "Federalist";

Burke;

Kant;

Hegel;

Saint-Simon;

Tocqueville;

Mazzini;

Proudhon;

Marx;

J.S. Mill. 

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

M. D’ADDIO, Storia delle dottrine politiche, Genova, ECIG. Students should prepare the following chapters and paragraphs: 2, 3, 4, 5 (paragraphs 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (paragraphs from 1 to 8), 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32. 

Moreover, they should read the following book:  

La democrazia liberale e i suoi critici, a cura di Carmelo Calabrò e Mauro Lenci, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2017 (except the following chapeters: M. Nacci, Non è un paese per artisti. L'immagine degli Stati Uniti nell'antiamericanismo francese; M. Lenci, I moderati italiani e la critica della democrazia 1815-1861); 

or

La democrazia diretta e le sue declinazioni, a cura di A. Catanzaro, A. de Sanctis, C. Morganti, Pisa, ETS, 2021. 

Students who do not attend 70% of the class at least, must prepare both books. 

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ALBERTO DE SANCTIS (President)

ANDREA CATANZARO

ARIANNA BETTIN (Substitute)

NICOLA CAROZZA (Substitute)

MARIA ANTONIETTA FALCHI (Substitute)

ALBERTO GIORDANO (Substitute)

GIORGIO GRIMALDI (Substitute)

CARLO MORGANTI (Substitute)

STEFANO PARODI (Substitute)

DAVIDE SUIN (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Lessons start on September 28th. 

Class schedule

HISTORY OF POLITICAL DOCTRINES

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Students should pass an oral exam in Italian, based on three questions. The first two questions are focused on the chapters and paragraphs included in the syllabus. Furthermore, students must be able to summarize the content of one of the two books they have to read.

Exam schedule