MORAL PHILOSOPHY II

The aim of this group of lectures is to introduce the students to a non-naïve conception about freedom and about modal categories.

In particular, the students, at the end of the course, have to be able to evaluate the pertinence of the non-classical approaches to the notion of free will, after a comparison with some classical works. Moreover, they have to be able to individuate and compare the different conceptions of “contingency” to each other.

There are not any particular pre-requirements.

Title: “Possibility, Contingency, Freedom”
The course will focus on the elementary relationships between freedom and modal concepts.
First Part. Introduction to notions of “freedom” and “trascendentality”
Second Part. The main philosophical approaches to the issue of “free will”, with particular reference to Thomas Aquinas, Kant and Lequier’s thought.
Third Part. Introduction to the ontological modalities, with particular reference to the “contingency”. Relationship between freedom and contingency

L. Montoneri, I Megarici, Symbolon, Catania 1985; Aristotele, De interpretatione, a cura di M. Zanatta, Milano 1992; Aristotele, Metafisica, a cura di G. Reale, Vita e Pensiero, Milano 1993; Leibniz, Confessio Philosophi, trad. italiana di F. Piro, Cronopio, Napoli 1992; Kant, Dissertatio de mundi sensibilis atque intelligibilis forma et principiis, in Scritti precritici, a cura di A. Pupi, Laterza, Bari 1982; J. Lequier, Oeuvres Complètes, a cura di J. Grenier, éd. De la Baconnière, Neuchâtel 1952; J.L. Gardies, Essai sur la logique des modalités, PUF, Paris 1979; E. Severino, Studi di filosofia della prassi, Adelphi, Milano 1984; E. Severino, Destino della necessità, Adelphi, Milano 1980; P. Pagani, Libertà e non-contraddizione in Jules Lequier, Franco Angeli, Milano 2000.

The preparation will be tested though an oral test (about 30 minutes), on these topics: 1. Passages from Anthology (edited by professor). 2. Contents from Lecture notes (by professor). 3. The first three Books of Nicomachean Ethics

The course will based on head-on lectures, enhancing students’ contribution. Parallel to the course, a seminar will be held (by an assistant of the professor), which will guide the students throughout the reading and the comment of the first three Books of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.

Italian

Bibliography for the exam:
- Anthology of classical and contemporaries authors, edited by professor
- Lecture notes by professor
- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. Recommended edition: by C. Natali, with Greek text, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2016.

Possible differentiations of the programme will be pointed out during the lectures.

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