POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY I

The course is consistent with the goals of the degree program because it introduces students to the fundamental problems and concepts of political philosophy, with particular focus on the main theoretical and hermeneutic traditions.

Upon completion of the course, the students will have developed the ability to: understand the meaning of the texts and topics discussed in class; recognize their implications for the contemporary scientific and civil debate; communicate in a more appropriate and informed way.

A good level of general education is required.

Course title: Sovereignty and reason of state, from Bodin to Botero
The course proposes the study of two fundamental texts for the formation of modern political thought: The Six Books of the State (1576) by Jean Bodin and The Reason of State (1589) by Giovanni Botero. After analyzing the ways in which Bodin theorizes sovereignty as «absolute and perpetual power that is proper to the State», we will examine the reaction of Botero, who, at the opening of his treaty, evokes the reason of State as «knowledge of the means suitable to found, conserve, and expand dominion». Starting from these texts, some of the main concepts and problems of Western political philosophy will be investigated in a historical-critical perspective, for how it develops in early modernity and for how it reverberates in the following centuries, up to the present day.

Textbooks:
Jean Bodin, I sei libri dello Stato, 3 voll., UTET, Torino 1988-1997 (I, Dedications, 1-2, 6, 8, 10; II, 1-7; IV, 7; V, 5; VI, 1-2) (t. 1, pp. 131-184, 265-316, 345-406, 477-539; pp. 541-663; t. 2, pp. 552-595);
Giovanni Botero, La ragion di Stato, a cura di C. Continisio, Donzelli, Roma 2009;
Stefano Petrucciani, Modelli di filosofia politica, Einaudi, Torino 2003.

In addition for non-attending students:
Vincenzo Piano Mortari, Il pensiero politico di Jean Bodin, in Storia delle idee politiche, economiche e sociali, III, Umanesimo e Rinascimento, diretta da Luigi Firpo, UTET, Torino 1987, pp. 452-474;
Romain Descendre, Milano, autunno 1582. La penna della Controriforma, in Atlante storico della letteratura italiana, II, Dalla Controriforma al Risorgimento, diretto da Sergio Luzzatto e Gabriele Pedullà, Einaudi, Torino 2011, p. 249-255.

For any further information on the course topics, please refer to:
Anna Di Bello, Stato e sovranità nel «De Repubblica libri sex» di Jean Bodin, Liguori, Napoli 2014;
Artemio Enzo Baldini (a cura di), Botero e la ‘Ragion di Stato’. Atti del Convegno in memoria di Luigi Firpo, Torino (8-10 marzo 1990), Olschki, Firenze 1992;
Diego Quaglioni, La sovranità, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2004;
Carlo Galli, Sovranità, il Mulino, Bologna 2019;
Michel Senellart, Machiavellismo e ragion di stato, ombre corte, Verona 2014;
Gianfranco Borrelli, Lorenzo Coccoli, (a cura di), Ragion di Stato e ragioni della Chiesa, Bibliopolis, Napoli 2019.

For any further information on the nature of political philosophy, please refer to:
Leo Strauss, Che cos’è la filosofia politica? (1959), (ed. by D. Cadeddu), Nuovo Melangolo, Genova 2011;
Quentin Skinner, Significato e comprensione nella storia delle idee (1969), in Id., Dell’interpretazione, il Mulino, Bologna 2001, pp. 11-57;
Alessandro Passerin d’Entrèves, La filosofia della politica, in Storia delle idee politiche, economiche e sociali, (ed. by L. Firpo), Utet, Torino 1972, vol. VI, pp. 587-608;
Norberto Bobbio, Dei possibili rapporti tra filosofia politica e scienza politica (1971), Per una mappa della filosofia politica (1990), Ragioni della filosofia politica (1990), in Id., Teoria generale della politica, (ed. by M. Bovero), Einaudi, Torino 1999, pp. 5-39;
John Rawls, Quattro ruoli della filosofia politica, in Id., Giustizia come equità. Una riformulazione (2001), Feltrinelli, Milano 2002, pp. 3-7.

The final exam will be oral and will be related to the texts and to contents the discussed throughout the course and to the topics addressed within the textbooks.

The teaching style will be traditional. Students’ participation will be encouraged.

Italian

oral