Philosophy of religion developed within Modern-Age thought between the 17th and the 18th centuries, as a reaction to the religious wars in Europe. It acquired the status of academic teaching in the Age of Enlightenment and German Idealism. Nevertheless, its object (a reflection on religion that moves from speculative assumptions) was already studied by Greek philosophy, which developed a rational criticism (based on logos) and applied it to mythical discourse since the Age of Pre-Socratic philosophers.
Students will learn to define, through a phenomenological and transcendental method, the peculiar nature and structure of the religious experience, independent and different from other domains of the spirit (ethic, aesthetic, metaphysic domain). Students will learn to explain how the independent status of religion is the result of a long, analytical work, and the result of a speculative process which started at the beginning of Modern Age; the outcome of this process is philosophy of religion becoming a unique field of knowledge.
Developing critical thinking towards the religious experience, moving from speculative assumptions, and showing its universal, ecumenic nature.
Lessons will be held in presence. Attendance, although not compulsory, is recommended.
The Religious Scene of the Self: Genealogy and Destiny of Autobiographical Writing
The course aims, in the first part, to reflect on autobiography, showing its origins in the word of the Other, that is, in religious word, first in the Greek universe and then in the Christian one, up to its modern secularizations and contemporary nihilism.
In the second part, particularly connecting to Franz Kafka's Letter to His Father, an analysis of the religious in the age of nihilism will be conducted, extending the reflections on poetics from the first part.
Bibliography for students who are taking the 6-CFU course:
1) R. Celada Ballanti, Memoria, autobiografia, alterità. Dalla sapienza delle Muse all’infinito nulla dell’uomo contemporaneo, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2024.
2)
Agostino, Confessioni, Einaudi, Torino, 2015.
Or
F. Kafka, Lettera al padre, Feltrinelli, Milano 2013.
Bibliography for students who are taking the 9-CFU course:
3) R. Celada Ballanti, Poetiche all’ombra del nichilismo. Montale, Mann, Borges, Morcelliana, Brescia 2023.
4) R. Celada Ballanti - M. Vannini, Il muro del paradiso. Dialoghi sulla religione per il terzo millennio, Lorenzo de’ Medici Press, Firenze 2017.
Ricevimento: Student reception is held by appointment (DAFIST, Philosophy Section via Balbi 4, 2nd floor)
ROBERTO CELADA BALLANTI (President)
NICOLO' GERMANO
FRANCESCO CAMERA (Substitute)
GERARDO CUNICO (Substitute)
September 24, 2024.
Oral exam
The exam will take place in oral form, through a dialogue aimed at verify the contents discussed during the course. The expositive ability and the critical reasoning of the student will also be ascertained.
Attendance is reccomended.
Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Elisabetta Colagrossi (elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it), the Department's disability liaison.
