HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

The course aims to provide 1) a general introduction to some basic concepts of the history of ancient philosophy; 2) a deep knowledge of Aristotle's Philosophy and in particular of Aristotle's practical philosophy; 3) the capacity of contextualizing and interpreting philosophical works trough a close reading of the text; of discussing philosophical questions and arguing for their possible solutions; 4) the acquisition of conceptual and lexical tools; 5) the ability to expound in an efficacious way what has been learnt during the course .

At the end of the course students 1) should demonstrate knowledge and understanding of some fundamental notions such as happiness, virtue, justice, voluntary action, choice, practical syllogism, wisdom; 2) could compare Aristotle's practical knowledge with contemporary ethical, political and economical thought; 3) should be able to critically and independently analyze a philosophical text.

There are no prerequisites for the attendance of the course

The course will be divided into four parts. The first will be devoted to a general Introduction to Aristotle's Philosophy (an ontological map, division of knowledge, main works and their contents) and Practical Philosophy; the second part will be devoted to the exam of Aristotle's theory of happiness, virtue and justice in the light of a more general analysis of ancient theories of happiness and justice. A close reading of books 1,2, and 5 of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics will be provided. The third part will focus on the relevance of Aristotle's practical philosophy for contemporary thought (Virtue Ethics, Capability Approach, the re-assessment of Aristotle's Economic Thought).

J. Annas, The morality of Happiness, OUP, 1995.
J. Barnes, Aristotle: a very short introduction, OUP.
Aristotele, Nicomachean Ethics, (edd. by S. Broadie and C. Rowe), OUP, Oxford 2002.
R. Polansky (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, CUP, Cambridge, 2014.
Other resources will be uploaded on Moodle platform.

The written test will consist of an essay on one of the topic covered in class. The test aims to verify the knowledge of Aristotle's philosophy, in particular of Aristotle's practical knowledge, and of the fifth book of Nicomachean Ethics, and its relevance for contemporary ethical, political end economical thought. The final result will take into account the assignments.

Lectures;
Analysis and open discussion of philosophical texts;
Assignments.

English

Materials will be available in Moodle.

Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion

Ca' Foscari abides by Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding support services and accommodation available to students with disabilities. This includes students with mobility, visual, hearing and other disabilities (Law 17/1999), and specific learning impairments (Law 170/2010). If you have a disability or impairment that requires accommodations (i.e., alternate testing, readers, note takers or interpreters) please contact the Disability and Acc
Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it.

written