HISTORY OF ITALIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT

The course is consistent with the goals of the degree program because it introduces students to the fundamental problems and concepts in the history of Italian political thought, 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: Giovanni Botero and the Reason of State

After an introduction to the controversial identity of Italian political thought, and a presentation of its main figures, between the 15th and 16th centuries, the course will focus on the theoretical analysis and historical contextualisation of one of its great classics, Giovanni Botero's "Della ragion di Stato" (1589), with the treatise 'Delle cause della grandezza delle città' (1588) as an appendix. Botero's book, whose fortune deserves to be investigated, inaugurates one of the most relevant political doctrines that, elaborated in Italy, was able to exert its hegemony over the whole of Europe.

Textbooks:
Carlo Galli (a cura di), Manuale di storia del pensiero politico, il Mulino, Bologna 2011 (parti selezionate);
Sergio Luzzatto e Gabriele Pedullà (a cura di), Atlante della letteratura italiana, 3 voll., Einaudi, Torino 2010-2012 (parti selezionate);
Giovanni Botero, La ragion di Stato, a cura di C. Continisio, Donzelli, Roma 2009;
Giovanni Botero, Delle cause della grandezza delle città, a cura di R. Descendre, Viella, Roma 2016.

Non-attending students will add: Romain Descendre, Lo stato del mondo. Giovanni Botero tra ragion di Stato e geopolitica, ed. it. a cura di G. Azzolini, Viella, Roma 2022.

For any further information on the course topics, please refer to:
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;
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 history of Italian political thought, please refer to:
Roberto Esposito, Pensiero vivente. Origini e attualità della filosofia italiana, Einaudi, Torino 2010;
Ettore A. Albertoni, Storia delle dottrine politiche in Italia, Arnoldo Mondadori, Milano 1985;
Luigi Salvatorelli, Il pensiero politico italiano dal 1700 al 1870, Einaudi, Torino 1943 (terza ed.);
Angelo d’Orsi, L'Italia delle idee. Il pensiero politico in un secolo e mezzo di storia, Bruno Mondadori, Milano 2011;
Norberto Bobbio, Profilo ideologico del Novecento italiano, Einaudi, Torino 1986;
Giuseppe Bedeschi, La fabbrica delle ideologie: il pensiero politico nell'Italia del Novecento, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2002;
Gianfranco Pasquino, Libertà inutile. Profilo ideologico dell'Italia repubblicana, UTET, Torino 2021.

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