THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY

In philosophical studies Theoretical Philosophy is a traditionally basic discipline. It aims to highlight the fundamental elements of the issues, without limiting itself to analytical decomposition. Within the PISE this teaching can offer those basic grammatical coordinates that have marked the entire Western philosophical tradition.

The philosophical-theoretical approach aims at at least two objectives:
(1) learn to read a classic text with the necessary historiographic awareness and the necessary critical sense of the multiplicity of meanings;
(2) open up the students' cultural horizon in order for them to learn how not to absolutize the present and not to take dominant interpretations as the only possible ones.

As this course is intended for third-year students, it is assumed that the students already have the historiographic, terminological and conceptual bases to attend the course.

Title: Secularization and Politics

The word ‘secularisation’ comes from the Latin ‘saeculum’, which means both an age (or era) but also ‘the world’, the world “out there”. At first sight secularisation simply consists in the transposition of religion into the ‘saeculum’, that is, into this world. On the one hand the secularisation theory maintains that «in the face of scientific rationality, religion’s influence on all aspects of life – from personal habits to social institutions—is in dramatic decline» (Swatos, Christiano 2000, 6): the sacred has lost its dominance, replaced by enlightened science, capitalism, high technology and humanistic education. Yet, on the other hand, millions of people still believe in God and references to the transcendent still persist. Furthermore, even today, in the age of secularisation, many political narratives are nourished by words, symbols and images taken from theological and religious backgrounds. The course aims at shedding some light about such a crucial intertwining. Some examples will be found in the North-American context, still the analysis will be not limited to the Jewish-Christian context. In fact, modernity cannot be reduced to the Euro-American socio-cultural context and modernities are as many as secularisations.
Secularisation as a prosaic translation of religious narratives? Secularisation as a loss of references to what is holy and transcendent? What's the difference between secularisation and secularism?

1. Karl Löwith, Meaning in History, The University of Chicago Press, London 1949;
2. Hans Blumenberg, The Legitimacy of Modern Age, only the Part I [available on Moodle];
3. Robert Bellah, The Civil Religion in America, in «Daedalus», 96(1), 1967, pp.1-21 (available on JStor);
4. Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, London 2007, only the Introduction, pp. 1-22;
5. Matthew Scherer, Landmarks in the Critical Studies of Secularism, in «Cultural Anthropology», 2011, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 621-632 (available on Moodle);
6. John L. Esposito, Rethinking Islam and Secularism, the ARDA papers, 1998 (available on Moodle);
7. Bassam SA Haddad, Islamic Liberals and Secularism, in «The Arab Studies Journal», 1993, 1(2), pp. 26-31, (available on Moodle);
8. M. Dressler, A. Salvatore and M. Wohlrab-Sahr, Islamicate Secularities in Past and Present, in «Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung» , 2019, 44(3), pp. 7-34.
9. W.H. Swatos, K. J. Christiano, Secularisation Theory: the Course of a Concept, in The Secularisation Debate, ed. by W.H. Swatos and D.V.A. Olson, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, New York 2000, pp. 1-20 [available on Moodle];
10. Exodus, 3: 1-14 [available on Moodle];
11. John Winthrop, ‘Arabella’ Sermon, 1630 [available on Moodle];
12. John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, 1690 [selected parts, available on Moodle].

The exam consists of a written test with open questions. In the maximum time of two hours students are asked to illustrate and explain some (four) passages taken from the texts in the program.
Students are advised to remember the following:
when you are already registered for an exam session and, for any reason, you cannot take the exam, you must notify the teacher in advance via email.

Lectures will give space to the direct reading of texts, projected on screen, and to a wide interlocution with the students.

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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 Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it.

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This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development