PHILOSOPHIES OF SCIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Bibliography
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
There is no prerequisite
The only oral oral final check is planned during which the following will be evaluated:
- the ability to properly understand the reading of a text;
- adequate knowledge of examination texts;
- the ability to develop one's own independent critical reflection.
In the course of the oral interview, the acquisition and correct understanding of the contents of the mandatory texts is to be ascertained and studied in full. Specific questions will be asked about the contents of the examination texts, which will cover an assessment of the ability of interdisciplinary critical analysis and autonomy of judgment.
In addition, knowledge of the topics covered in the books of your choice (at least one question) will be required.
The final vote will take into account the accuracy and quality of the responses (70%), as well as the communication skills shown during the interview (10%) and the ability to adequately justify claims, analyses and judgments (20%).
The course aims to define and analyze philosophical reflection with an integrated, historical, philosophical and narrative approach to contemporary, able to deal with, with adequate critical capacity, philosophical themes. For this reason, the course aims to provide the main methodological tools useful for understanding the specific cultural context of the 20th century, fostering a plurality of hermeneutic approaches that, especially in the contemporary age, have philosophical reflection. A special attention will be given to the critical analysis of the texts with the aim of grasping the essential lines, as well as the development of the different conceptual forms and the explicitness of the different categories and the examination of the language used Author taken into account.
Through a direct relationship with the sources (in all its formats) a critical understanding of the texts taken into account is favoured in the learner, favoring a historical and conceptual deepening in comparative and interdisciplinary form as a tool conceptual understanding of the qualifying changes of the contemporary world. This promotes a hermeneutic approach that can adopt forms of analysis and critical skills specific to contemporary philosophical reflection
The course will cover the Bertrand Russell theme and the program of a scientific philosophy and, specifically, analyze the following topics: the scientific philosophy developed by Russell at different stages of his life having as privileged reference texts Philosophical synthesis and The Scientific Outlook (Scientific Panorama) of 1933, as well as some of his other writings of high dissemination, in order to be able to clarify the following conceptual points: the relationship between appearance and reality; the existence of matter and the nature of matter; idealism; empiricism; induction; knowledge a priori; the problem of universals; intuition; the relationship between truth and falsehood; the limits of philosophical knowledge and the value of philosophical reflection; science/philosophy ratio; the role of logical inferences; the role of reason as a privileged tool for building critical reflection; reason and feeling in Russell's reflection; commitment to philosophy in the contemporary world.
Mandatory reference texts:
- B. Russell, Panorama scientifico, trad. it. di Emilio A. G. Loliva,, Laterza, Bari 1934, ripubblicato nel 1988 col titolo La visione scientifica del mondo (e tutte le successive ristampe)
- B. Russell, Sintesi filosofica, Presentazione di Mario Dal Pra, La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1966, riedito in edizione anastatica da Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2018
Recommended introductory text
- Michele Di Francesco, Introduzione a Russell, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1990 (e successive ristampe)
Two books of your choice include the following:
- B. Russell, La conquista della felicità, Longanesi, Milano 1947 (e successive riedizioni)
- B. Russell, Matrimonio e morale, Longanesi, Milano 1949 (altra ed. Rizzoli, Milano 1980) (e successive riedizioni)
- B. Russell, Autorità e individuo, Longanesi, Milano 1949 (e successive riedizioni)
- B. Russell, Storie delle idee nel secolo XIX, Einaudi, Torino 1950 (altra ed. Mondadori, Milano 1961) (e successive riedizioni)
- B. Russell, Religione e scienza, La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1951 (altra ed. Scienza e religione, Longanesi, Milano 1974) (e successive riedizioni)
- B. Russell, Perché non sono cristiano, Longanesi, Milano 1959 (e successive riedizioni)
- B. Russell, L’ABC della relatività, Longanesi, Milano 1960 (e successive riedizioni)
- B. Russell, La saggezza dell’Occidente. Panorama storico di filosofia occidentale, Longanesi, Milano 1961 (e successive riedizioni)
- B. Russell, Elogio dell’ozio, Longanesi, Milano 1963 (e successive riedizioni)
- B. Russell, Un’etica per la politica, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1986 (e successive riedizioni)
- ***B. Russell, Storia della filosofia occidentale, Longanesi, Milano 1948
- ***B. Russell, L’autobiografia di Bertrand Russell, Longanesi, Milano 1967-1969, 3 voll. (e successive riedizioni).
- NB: For books abstaining their choice is not to bring other books.
The training objectives of the course will be achieved through the way of the frontal lessons (for a total of 30 hours) which provide for the analytical and collective discussion of the texts taken in direct reference.
Learning outcomes include
- knowledge of the conceptual notion of scientific philosophy
- ability to read a text critically, inserting it within its precise theoretical context
- ability to explain the different traditions of thought present within a given theoretical proposal
- ability to grasp the open problems of the texts studied
- ability to apply the acquired knowledge independently, in order to initiate a self-contained critical reflection on the open problems of the contemporary