Unit HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY I
- Course
- Humanities
- Study-unit Code
- GP005970
- Curriculum
- Classico
- Teacher
- Marco Martino
- Teachers
-
- Marco Martino
- Francesco Pisano
- Hours
- 36 ore - Marco Martino
- 36 ore - Francesco Pisano
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2023
- Offered
- 2025/26
- Learning activities
- Affine/integrativa
- Area
- Attività formative affini o integrative
- Sector
- M-FIL/06
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- An introduction to the main themes and problems of the history of ancient and medieval philosophy.
- Reference texts
- REFERENCE TEXTS: 1) Textbook of the History of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, specific to the course and recommended by M. Marianelli, L, Mauro, M. Moschini, G. D'Anna, SOUL, BODY, RELATIONSHIPS. HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY FROM AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, VOL. I, Città Nuova, Rome 2022; 2) One of the following texts to choose from: PLATO, Phaedrus - any edition; ARISTOTLE, Nicomachean Ethics, Laterza, Bari 2005 (Introduction and Books VIII and IX); D. LOSCALZO, M. MARIANELLI, G. VITALI, Medea: Ossessione d’amore e sradicamento (new translation, critically revised Greek text and philosophical readings of Euripides' tragedy), Pièdimosca, Perugia 2021; PIETRO ABELARDO, Etica, edited by Mariateresa Fumagalli Beonio Brocchieri, Mimesis, Milan-Udine 2014. Additional teaching materials will be provided on the UniStudium portal. For international students (especially Erasmus students) or for those who wish, alternatively: F. COOPLESTON, A History of Philosophy, Paulist Press (US & Canada), 1986 (Vol. I) (ancient part) and ALAIN MICHEL (Ed.), Théologiens et mystiques au Moyen Age, Gallimard, Paris 1997 (medieval part). Only the authors and topics indicated in the program summary should be considered.
- Educational objectives
- Expected learning outcomes: knowledge and understanding; knowledge of the main philosophers and of the most significant developments in the history of ancient and medieval thought, knowledge of the main areas of ancient thought with particular reference to the problem of the “Origins” of philosophy, to the issue of the relationship between soul and body and to the theme of friendship; ability to apply knowledge and understanding; ability of analysis, synthesis and argumentation; critical and interdisciplinary skills, with specific reference to dialogue with psychology; ability to critically analyze the main teaching methodologies developed in research on the didactics of philosophy and ability to critically read the relationship between philosophy and the history of philosophy, developing a historical-philosophical pathway starting from the understanding of this very connection; independent judgment; ability to organize data diachronically, to provide personal evaluation and to make synchronic use of the acquired competences, also in relation to their implications in the psychological as well as ethical and existential fields; ability to use interdisciplinary teaching methodologies: to establish relations between philosophy and other forms of knowledge, in particular philosophy and psychology, but also philosophy and the sciences, philosophy and art, philosophy and history, philosophy and public discussion; communication skills; ability to communicate knowledge in an appropriate philosophical language; learning skills; acquisition of a rational learning method that allows the continuation of studies in an autonomous and conscious way.
- Prerequisites
- The course has an institutional and introductory character to the main themes and problems of ancient philosophy. Therefore, no prerequisites or specific prior knowledge are required in order to understand the course contents.
- Teaching methods
- Lectures, seminars and exercises on texts.
- Other information
- Attendance of the lectures is not compulsory but strongly recommended, and it is also a condition for access to the possible exemption preceding the final exam; attendance of the proposed supplementary teaching activities is likewise not compulsory but strongly recommended. The detailed program and additional information (reference texts and readings that will be proposed during the lectures) can be found on the Unistudium portal (https://www.unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/
). It is possible to register and log in with university credentials: registration is compulsory. - Learning verification modality
- Normally, a single final assessment is scheduled, consisting of a written exam, and in-progress tests on parts of the program may also be provided if deemed useful during or at the end of the lectures. Normally, the assessment consists of a final written exam (final oral exams or partial tests may be scheduled only if established by the Lecturer, also with prior notification through the SOL – Online Student Secretariat portal). The written exam has a maximum duration of 40 minutes and consists of both closed and open questions, which together contribute to the final grade expressed in thirtieths; the platform will be indicated by the Lecturer on the Unistudium portal.
The written exam consists of: 24 closed questions (24 points, 1 point each), 2 open questions (8 points, 4 points each), one of which concerns the chosen text on the theme “Love and Friendship”, the others concerning topics covered during the lectures or indicated in the program. A total of 40 minutes is available. A score exceeding 30/30 allows for cum laude. The aim of the written exam is to verify the knowledge acquired and the ability to contextualize authors and issues within the historical-philosophical framework considered. The examination board may redefine the criteria if necessary.
The exam is intended to verify:
knowledge of the historical and cultural context of reference
the key elements of the thought of the authors considered
the ability to argue with reference to fundamental themes and issues in the history of ancient and medieval philosophy
writing skills and the student’s ability to elaborate and develop philosophical arguments concerning the topics proposed and indicated in the program.
To take the exam:
students must register, using their student credentials, in the SOL (Online Student Secretariat) on the reserved student area of www.unipg.it
;
registration on the Unistudium platform (http://estudium.unipg.it
), the online teaching platform adopted by the Department of Philosophy, Social, Human and Educational Sciences, is also compulsory.
The results will be visible to each student in their reserved SOL area within 10 days of the test.
Oral exams (interim or final) may also be scheduled. The aim of the possible oral exam is:
to verify knowledge of the historical and cultural context of reference
the key elements of the thought of the authors considered and the program contents
the ability to argue with reference to fundamental themes and issues in the history of ancient, late ancient and medieval philosophy (as indicated in the program)
the appropriate use of language and the student’s ability to autonomously organize their exposition on theoretical content.
The evaluation of the final exam is expressed in thirtieths: the exam is passed with a minimum grade of 18/30 up to a maximum of 30/30; to the grade of 30/30 cum laude may be added.
For information on support services for students with disabilities and/or specific learning disorders (DSA), visit the page http://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa - Extended program
- The program is divided into three parts:
1) The problem of foundation and the meaning of beginnings: when does philosophy begin? The relationship between philosophy and the history of philosophy starting from the reading of Aristotle’s Metaphysics I; philosophy and its relations with other forms of knowledge; philosophy and science, philosophy and art, philosophy and history, philosophy and psychology; the fundamental lines of the history of ancient philosophy from the origins to Augustine of Hippo.
In more detail:
The Greek origins of Western thought: genesis, nature, and development of Ancient philosophy;
The foundation of philosophical thought: Presocratic naturalists, the origins of philosophy in Greece, the Presocratics (with particular attention to Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans);
The discovery of Man: the Sophists (only Protagoras and Gorgias) and Socrates;
Plato’s thought: the horizon of Metaphysics, the second navigation and the theory of Ideas, Plato as theoretician, Ethics and Politics;
The Corpus Hippocraticum;
Aristotle’s thought: the first systematic organization of Western knowledge: First Science (Metaphysics), Logic, Ethics and Politics;
The Hellenistic philosophical schools (in particular Stoicism and Epicureanism);
Plotinus and Neoplatonism;
Alexander of Aphrodisias; medicine and philosophy: Galen.
2) The fundamental lines of the history of late Ancient and Medieval philosophy and the revolution brought by Christianity, with particular attention to:
Patristics, with special reference to Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa, and Justin Martyr;
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and John Scotus Eriugena;
Hypatia;
Augustine’s thought: the problem of time, knowledge, and history;
Genesis, development and dissolution of Scholasticism. Reason and faith in the Middle Ages;
The 12th century: Abelard, the problem of universals and the ethics of intention;
The 13th century, between Arabic thought and Jewish philosophy;
Thomas Aquinas’ thought (with particular attention to the theme of knowledge as adaequatio);
Franciscan philosophy: Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, the Itinerarium and the “mysticism of nature” in Franciscanism; Duns Scotus;
Duns Scotus and the concept of haecceity;
Meister Eckhart and German speculative mysticism;
Anthropology and politics between Antiquity and the Middle Ages in these figures and moments in the history of thought: Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and the Hellenistic schools.
3) Love and friendship in ancient thought: reading of texts by Plato and Aristotle or Euripides’ Medea – with commentary on the monographic theme.
One of the following texts must be chosen:
PLATO, Phaedrus;
ARISTOTLE, Nicomachean Ethics, Laterza, Bari 2005 (Introduction and Book VIII);
ARISTOTLE, Nicomachean Ethics, Laterza, Bari 2005 (Introduction and Book IX);
D. Loscalzo, M. Marianelli, G. Vitali, Medea: Ossessione d’amore e sradicamento, pièdimosca, Perugia 2021.
Supplementary teaching activities are foreseen, the content of which will be made available on Unistudium as useful material for passing the exam.
Students are required to study the contents outlined in Points 1 and 2 of the program “The History of Ancient and Medieval Thought” and to choose one of the texts indicated for the monographic section at Point 3, theme: “LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP IN ANCIENT THOUGHT” (one text to be chosen among Plato’s Phaedrus, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, or Medea).
The detailed course program with reference texts, suggestions, and additional readings proposed during the lectures is available on the Unistudium portal (http://unistudium.unipg.it
).