INTRODUCTION TO POLITICS MOD. 1

Introduction to Politics is a course included in the PISE's "Attività formative di base" (basic activities).

USING THE MOODLE PLATFORM IS MANDATORY. THIS COURSE IS A 'BLENDED' COURSE: MOST OF THE TEACHING WILL TAKE PLACE ONLINE. THE FORUM AND ALL ONLINE RESOURCES ARE THERE FOR YOU TO BE EXPLOITED TO THE FULLEST.

This is the link to access the Moodle platform:
https://moodle.unive.it/course/view.php?id=2569
Keyword: intro2

Knowledge and understanding
By the end of the course students :
- will know several classical political authors and ideas;
- will be able to recognize the historical evolution of the European political thought (until the Modern times);
- will be able to analyze a political philosophical text.

Applying knowledge and understanding
By the end of the course students:
- have developed basic skills to analyse a political language and theory;
- will be able to think "historically" about political ideas.

Communication skills
By the end of the course students will have improved their English communication skills through the classroom presentation undertaken of volunteer basis and through class discussions.

Conoscenze storico-filosofiche non sono prerequisito obbligatorio, ma certamente sono molto utili. La partecipazione attiva e costante al corso è necessaria.

Introduzione ad alcuni autori e idee chiave della storia del pensiero politico europeo, dall'antichità (per esempio Aristotele e Agostino) e dal medioevo (p.e. Marsilio da Padova), fino alla Modernità (per es. Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau).

Religione e politica. Un problema filosofico

Gli esami sono orali e vertono sui testi e sugli argomenti trattati nel corso frontale, sui testi segnalati nel programma e sugli approfondimenti disponibili sulla piattaforma informatica dedicata.

In aula verranno in particolare approfonditi i seguenti testi (ogni edizione in lingua inglese è comunque possibile):

Saint Augustine, The City of God, in Writings, voll. 6 e 7, The Catholic University of America Press, 2008, books IV, VI, VIII, XIX.
Marsilius of Padua, The Defender of the Peace, Cambridge University Press, 2005, Section I, IV-VI; section II, VIII-X.
N. Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, The University of Chicago Press, 1998, book I, 10-15.
T. Hobbes, Leviathan, section II-III.
J.J. Rousseau, The Social Contract and other later political writings, Cambridge University Press, 1997, book IV, 8.

Sono inoltre da leggere, in qualsiasi edizione inglese, e quindi oggetto di esame: Il Principe di Machiavelli; Le Confessioni di Agostino.

Per un’introduzione manualistica agli autori di cui parliamo nel corso va studiato:
Alan Ryan, On Politics: A History of Political Thought from Herodotus to the Present, Penguin 2013. In particolare i capitoli 5, 8, 11, 12, 15.

Come brevi, ma più dettagliate introduzioni a singoli autori vanno studiati:
H. Chadwick, Augustine: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford 2001.
Cary. J. Nederman, Machiavelli, Oneworld Beginner’s Guide, London 2019.
R. Tuck, Hobbes: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford 2002.
R. Wokler, Rousseau: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford 2001.

Per una breve introduzione storiografica al tema del corso si legga:
W. Gentile, Political religion: a concept and its critics – a critical survey, in «Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions», Vol. 6, No. 1, 19–32, June 2005.

Verrà organizzato un seminario su “Che cos’è la politica”, in quattro incontri, su cui si daranno notizie più dettagliate all’inizio del corso.

Update April 2020:

Among all the changes of this period, also change the methods of the exam. Unfortunately, as you know, it will not be possible to take the exams in presence and, for this reason, we have decided to modify the exam converting it into a written exam.
We have chosen to have a written exam taking into account many factors and we believe that it is the best solution, also considering that the exam will be in more than a month and a half, an appropriate time to prepare you for this new method. But above all we have chosen to do written exams also to simplify and smooth your task, so don't worry.
The exam will consist of a written essay, in response to one or two open questions, and for this reason we invite you to study right now by highlighting the links between the authors and the topics examined.
We will then inform you about the technical methods for the online exam, but in the meantime we wanted to inform you as soon as possible about the new method of examination so that you can prepare for it.
We are available for any doubt or question, either via email or by organizing online office hours and meetings, even in small groups.

In each lectures professor gives you an overview of the main concepts related to the issues we are dealing.
Whenever it is possible, in class you are requested to spend some times in group, or individual exercises, following an assigned a task related to the topics which professor previously illustrated.

Inglese

scritto