Philosophy

The course examines the development of rationalism from Descartes to Leibniz. Special attention is paid to the historical context of the rationalist attempt to give a systematic account of knowledge and reality. Students examine the relation between empirical science and metaphysics in the 18th-century period of Enlightenment, with particular emphasis on the philosophies of Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.

This course focuses on ethical and philosophical approaches to democracy. It introduces students to major theories of democracy, as well as major critiques of democracy. 

This course examines the main regulatory implications of technology, as well as the EU ethical and legal framework applicable to information technologies, with a focus on the data-driven technologies. It discusses issues such as ethical and legal governance, ethical and legal principles and requirements, risk assessment approaches to the design, development, deployment, and use of data-driven technologies.  

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale Program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by consent of the instructor. This course provides a philosophical introduction to the most influential theories of emotion of the past sixty years in philosophy and psychology. Taking a multidisciplinary and empirically informed perspective, the approach integrates philosophical analysis with the discussion of cutting-edge research in psychology and cognitive science, contextualizing current debates in the history of ideas from Darwin to pragmatism.

This philosophy course addresses the historical reality of the German moment of philosophy in two subsequent phases. In the first part, the course follows the emergence and full deployment of German philosophy from its Kantian beginnings to Hegel's grand but fragile synthesis, trying to understand its richness as well as its fragility. In a second part, the course discusses the later renewal of German philosophy in the late nineteenth century and its historical tragedy in the twentieth century. This includes a discussion of the new beginnings of philosophy since the mid-nineteenth century, from Marx, and Nietzsche, via Frege and Mach, to Husserl and Wittgenstein, who have been reacting to the scientific and political revolutions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Martin Heidegger as an established pro-Nazi philosopher and Max Horkheimer as the leading philosopher of the “Frankfurt School” driven into exile are studied as philosophers immersed into the Night of the twentieth century. Finally, post-World War II developments in philosophy (as exemplified by Jürgen Habermas and Ernst Tugendhat) are looked at as pathways out of the self-destructive turn philosophy in Germany had taken in the first decades of the twentieth century, and as passages into an emerging world philosophy. The course is based upon contemporary attempts at rethinking a global philosophical perspective. The focus is on the tension between the Enlightenment heritage of a universalizing human philosophy and a national culture project, as well as on the tension between classicist rationalism and romantic emotionalism in its construction as a series of philosophical projects. From the perspective of a German version of the dialectics of the Enlightenment, the German philosophers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are studied in context, combining the reading of key texts with a reconstruction of their historical contexts and their interaction.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on some questions and debates that are central to the contemporary philosophy of social sciences. After a short introduction to the discipline, in which a comparison between the social sciences and the natural sciences is made, the following topics are covered: 1) the naturalism/anti-naturalism debate within the philosophy of social sciences; 2) the role of idealized models in social sciences; 3) the nature of explanation in the social sciences; 4) the value-free/laden character of social studies; 5) the objectivity question within the social sciences; and 6) the possibility of having social laws. During the course these topics are explored at length, using case-studies from different social science fields and tracing connections with those debates that address similar topics within the general philosophy of science.

In this course, students look at the extent to which our familiar norms and ways of interacting with each other transfer to our online lives, and how we should respond when these familiar ideas fail to apply to our online life. 

This course provides you with an introduction to aesthetics and the philosophy of art. While aesthetics is occasionally thought as synonymous with the philosophy of art, it examines questions raised by experiences that are appreciated for their own sake in a much wider variety of contexts, including natural environments, and watching sport. The course focuses on two main themes. First, the nature and justifiability of aesthetic judgements. Questions addressed may include: How should we reconcile the commonly held thought that taste is subjective with the equally commonly held idea that some artworks are nonetheless better than others? Is there a right or wrong way to experience the aesthetic qualities of a sunset or a starfish? The second theme is the contemporary debates in the philosophy of art. Questions addressed may include the nature and value of art (can just anything count as art if you put it in a gallery?), the aesthetic value of forgeries, what we can learn about life from art, and why we value painful works such as tragedies.

This course explores the application of ethical theories to perennially contentious and troubling real-world questions that everyone faces. By introducing students to the theories and concepts of moral analysis, in an approachable way, they better understand the dilemmas that confront them. Students examine what Thomas Aquinas and David Hume wrote about life and death, framing our modern understanding of subjects such as just war and suicide, and how that influenced 20th century thinkers like Judith Jarvis Thomson on abortion and James Rachels on euthanasia. Many moral philosophers today consider population ethics to be the world’s most pressing set of problems, asking, what obligations do I have now towards future generations? Students explore how philosophers such as Derek Parfit and William MacAskill have some surprising answers, which may transform your thinking about issues such as environmental conservation, artificial intelligence, biosecurity, and existential risk.

This course considers the ethical duties that come with citizenship and political participation. It encourages students to critically assess their own beliefs about the role of the state in their lives. During this process, students will be expected to practice constructively exchanging ideas with their peers while remaining tolerant of those with differing perspectives.