INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

The course is counted among the formative activities of History of Philosophy of the degree in Philosophy. As such the course aims to provide a critical knowledge of the main philosophical topic and questions in their historical development and in their connections with other disciplines and fileds of research (psichology, human sciences, educational science, art). Within this framework, the course aims to provide 1) a deep knowledge of the main authors, works and philosophical oriantations of ancient though; 2) the capacity of contextualising, analysing and critically interpreting sources of different kinds (witnesses, fragments, dialogues and treatises, letters and sentences); 3) the lexical and conceptual tools necessary to the study of the history of ancient and medieval and to the acquisition of good communative skills .

At the end of the course students are expected :
1) to know and understand :
- the authors, the works and the main topics concerning the history of the ancient philosophy and their cultural context.
- the terminology appropriate to this field of study
2) to apply their knowledge to the analysis of ancient texts; to discuss in a pertinent and argumentative way philosophical and exegetical questions;
3) to present in written and oral form the acquired contents of the course.

There are no prerequisites for the attendance of the course.

Presocratics; Sophists; Socratic dialectic; Platonic and Aristotelian Philosophy; Hellenistic Philosophy; Roman and Late Antiquity Philosophy; Plotinus and Neoplatonism; Agustin and the origin of the medieval though

F. Ferrari, P. Donini, L'esercizio della ragione nel mondo classico, Einaudi, Torino 2005.
M. Vegetti, Quindici Lezioni su Platone, Piccola Biblioteca Einaudi, 2003.
M. Vegetti, F. Ademollo, Incontro con Aristotele, Quindici Lezioni, Piccola Biblioteca Einaudi, 2016.
R. Chiaradonna, Plotino, Carocci, Roma, 2009.

The exam will consist into a written test composed of ten open questions: one on the Presocratic naturalist philosophy; on the Sophists; one on the socratic dialectic; two on Plato's philosophy; two on Aristotle's philosophy; one on Plotinus. Questions will concern notions, doctrines, contents of ancient philosophical works, ancient texts to be analyzed and commented on. The exam will aim to verify 1) the knowledge and the understanding of the topic that have been treated during the course; 2) the capacity to analyze a philosophical text; 3) the ability to present the contents of the course.

Lectures;
Analysis of texts;
Conferences.

Italian

written