PHILOSOPHY OF THE PRESENT
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
There is no prerequisite.
Verification of learning will be in oral form and will consist of an interview covering the reference texts provided. The evaluation will be expressed in thirtieths (sufficiency: 18/30).
Three to five questions designed to ascertain the attainment of the training objectives and expected learning outcomes will be asked during the interview, with strict reference to the provided texts, including by reading and commenting on passages of the teacher's choice.
The final grade will also take into account the materials prepared and presented by the students during lecture and seminar activity hours. Grading will be based on the following criteria: accuracy of answers (60%), linguistic and argumentative mastery (30%), ability to independently formulate an adequately reasoned critical judgment (10%).
Building on the fundamental skills and knowledge acquired in the "Philosophy of History" course (Year I), the Philosophy of the Present course first of all proposes a path of concrete approach to the practice of philosophy, its way of problematizing and constructing knowledge. Indeed, the "present" to which the course refers in philosophical terms is not to be understood as mere "actuality," but as the locus of personally experienced reality: a "present" that is always "in progress," never totally translatable into the object of universal knowledge and the order of linear time. Within this framework, the course intends to shed light on some of the main research trajectories in contemporary philosophy, showing the profound cogency that questions posed from a purely theoretical perspective also reveal on the ethical, gnoseological and epistemological, social and political levels.
Expected learning outcomes include:
- Refinement of skills in the use of philosophical vocabulary and argumentation;
- ability to interpret and problematize the notions of "lived reality" and "known reality," "existence" and "knowledge."
- ability to grasp the ethical, social and political implications of philosophical reflection around the criteria of truth and historicity of knowledge;
- critical ability to read the present, aware of cultural transformations that redefine the meaning of human action and knowledge in different historical eras.
The teaching activities will consist of three interconnected levels.
1) GENERAL PART (approx. 20 hours). The first part of the course will present an overview of the orientations of the "philosophy of existence" with particular reference to the thought of Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and his interlocution with the intellectuals, especially French, of his time.
2) MONOGRAPHIC PART (approx. 36 hours). The central part of the course will be devoted to the theme Existence and Knowledge. In light of Sartre's reflection, it will address the problematic relationship between "lived life" and "known life," that is, between the singularity of subjective experiences on the one hand and, on the other, the universality and neutrality of objective knowledge. This relationship lies at the heart of historical knowledge and, more generally, of any knowledge that aspires to be scientifically grounded. It will also be addressed with direct references to Sartre's biographical story, as well as the positions he took with respect to the political debate of his time.
3) LABORATORIES/SEMINARS (12 hours). The concluding part of the course includes activities for in-depth study, with an interdisciplinary approach, of some of the topics covered in class. In the hours of workshops/seminars, students will present papers in the classroom based on written materials prepared individually or in groups.
The educational objectives of the course will be achieved through the mode of face-to-face lectures (totaling 56 hours), to which will be added 12 hours of interdisciplinary laboratory/seminar activities, which will encourage the active participation of students. Students will also be able to present papers in the classroom concerning the topics covered, on the basis of short writings prepared individually or in groups, which will be considered part of the results to be submitted for learning verification.
The lecturer receives students by appointment, to be arranged by emailing florinda.cambria@uninsubria.it.