History of culture and values
Learning outcomes of the course unit
1. Knowledge of the basic problems developed by phenomenology. Knowledge of the phenomenological lexicon in order to promote the understanding of concept's historical development. Understanding of the most significant aspects of the phenomenological account of self-consciousness.
2. Knowledge of the addressed issues and of the main methods used to develop them. Ability to understand the main thesis of phenomenology contextualizing them within the philosophical debate of the time.
3. Ability to write coherent paper using in a proper way the philosophical terminology.
4-5. Ability to grasp grounded connections among the positions taken into account also in an interdisciplinary way. Ability to argue for the supported thesis.
Prerequisites
None
Course contents summary
The phenomenological account of self-consciousness
The course consists of two parts:
1. An introductory part is aimed to provide a general overview of the basic problems of phenomenology focusing on both the most significant theoretical-methodological aspects and on their contextualization within the philosophical-scientific debate of the time.
2. The monographic part is dedicated to the «self-consciousness» problem in the light of the central role that phenomenology recognizes to the ego considered as dynamic pole of intentional correlation. According to phenomenological analysis self-consciousness is not something that comes about the moment we reflect our experiences or in the moment in which we recognize our specular images in the mirror but an essential feature of all our experience. In order to understand the principal trends of the current debate, will be also presented the most significant solutions proposed by the leading figures of the phenomenological movement.
Recommended readings
Introductory Part: The basic problems of phenomenology
– V. Costa, Il movimento fenomenologico, La Scuola, Brescia 2014.
Monographic part: Phenomenology and the «self-consciousness» problem
– E. Husserl, Idee per una fenomenologia pura e per una filosofia fenomenologica, Libro Secondo. Ricerche fenomenologiche sopra la costituzione, Einaudi, Torino 2002, pp. 95-173: Sezione Seconda. La costituzione della natura animale (§§ 19-47);
– M. Scheler, Gli idoli della conoscenza di sé, in M. Scheler, Il valore della vita emotiva, Guerini e Associati, Milano 1999, pp. 47-154;
– J. P. Sartre, La trascendenza dell’ego, Marinotti, Milano 2011.
Further readings (optional)
G. Piana, I problemi della fenomenologia, lulu.com 2013 (prima edizione: Mondadori, Milano 1966; seconda edizione rivista da V. Costa (2000).
A. Cimino - V. Costa, (a cura di), Storia della fenomenologia, Carocci, Roma 2012.
D. Zahavi, Subjectivity and Selfhood. Investigating the First-Person Perspective, MIT, Cambridge 2008.
S. Gallagher – D. Zahavi, La mente fenomenologica, Cortina, Milano 2009.
S. Luft - S. Overgaard (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology, Routledge, New York 2012.
Teaching methods
Lectures. Reading, analysis and discussion of the authors' works.
Assessment methods and criteria
The exam consists in a written test and in an oral examination.
1. The written test (with open questions) will be schedule in the last week of the course. Students who do not take the written test, must send – almost one week before the date of oral examination at which they wish to sign up – a paper (8-10 pages) about a topic of the course. The written test will be evaluated in "trentesimi" and will be discussed during the oral examination.
2.The oral examination is aimed to verify: I) knowledge both of the topics presented during the course and of the recommended readings; II) the ability to contextualize issues within the historical-philosophical reference-horizon; III) the ability to clearly present the course's topics; 4) the ability to grasp similarities and differences between the analyzed thesis.
The final grade is the average grade between the written test and the oral examination.
Other informations
Further information about the course as well as didactic-resources will be made available on https://didattica.unipr.it/.
