PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICS OF LIFE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

The aim of the course is to learn to think critically and historically about the environment and our multifaceted relations with it over time and from a global history perspective.

To become capable of reading, analyzing, studying and then discussing philosophical sources and critically interpret them.
To critically re-elaborate pieces of information about environment and politics of life received by medias or scientists.
To discuss and argue their own analysis of them, also by the technique of the philosophical debate.

Curiosity, enthusiasm and readiness to engage with challenging historical and philosophical discussions and readings.
Being open minded, being willing to know approaches to environmental issues even those far from one's own beliefs.

The first part of the course will illustrate the conceptual and methodological tools that Philosophy and the History of Science offer to orient oneself in that indistinct set of theories and practices linked to the politics of life and the environment.
In the second part, lessons will be dedicated specifically to natural disasters as subject of analysis from an Environmental Humanities approach. In this case, volcanos and earthquakes are "tools for thinking" the transdisciplinarity of certain socio-political dynamics, the relationship between the development of scientific disciplines and sites of observation of nature, human intentionality and the materiality of the environment, the multidimensionality of catastrophes since the modern age. We will also face risk perception, management and prevention in history. Finally, we will discuss if environmental crisis is a catastrophe and, if it is the case, to what extent.
The students will also attend some workshops given by professionals, for examples, from the world of Journalism, Architecture, Climate Sciences or Biotechnologies, etc., on topics ranging from the origin of the relationship between tourism and climate change to the regeneration of urban peripheries. These are workshops with different approaches and subjects, so the students, using what they have learnt in the first part of the course, will have to demonstrate that they are able to critically re-elaborate the pieces of information received, discuss and argue their own analysis of the lectures.

References to papers and book chapters will be given, distribuited and updated during the development of the course, as well as content, summaries and the order of each lesson. So, you have to wait until the end of the course to get the final and complete list.

However, we will study parts of:
- Arendt, Between Past and Future (1961) [any edition];
- Armiero M., Wasteocene: Stories from the Global Dump, Cambridge University Press, 2021;
- Grafton H. & Torrence R. Natural Disasters and Cultural Change. London New York: Routledge, 2002
- Guerra C. & Piazza M., Disruption of Habits during the Pandemic, Milan, Mimesis International, 2022
- Horn E., The Future as Catastrophe: Imagining Disaster in the Modern Age, Translated by V. Pakis. Columbia University, 2018

The students’ preparation will be verified through:
- their active participation in the classes
- a final oral exam
- presentations to the class / essay on one workshop (optional).

The course is divided into two parts, the first one more based on theories, the second one more focused on case studies, with the active participation of students and workshops by international professionals from different fields of research.

English

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Climate change and energy" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development