Learning outcomes

the goal of the course is to point out the importance of the themes of purpose and beauty in the history of modern philosophy, in particular in the Eighteenth Century.

Program

Content of the lectures:
during the lectures will analyse the following works: The Moralists of Shaftesbury; Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue of Hutcheson; Critic of Judgement of Kant. I will consider these three works, which are important for the history of philosophy, for moral philosophy and for aesthetics. I will analyse the questions which are contained in them, starting from the historical point of view. I will read and comment the main passages of the works.

Reference Texts:
Lord Shaftesbury, I Moralisti, Palermo, Aesthetica Edizioni, parte prima, sez. 1,2,3; parte seconda, sez. 1,2,3,4; parte terza, sez. 1,2,3.;
Francis Hutcheson, L’origine della bellezza, Palermo, Aesthetica Edizioni, prefazione; capitolo 1, §§ 1-17; capitolo 2, §§ 1-14; capitolo 3, § 7; capitolo 4, §§ 1-7; capitolo 5, §§ 1,2,8,15,16,17,18,19,20,21.
Immanuel Kant, Critica del giudizio, a cura di A. Gargiulo, Laterza, Analitica del bello: §§ 1-22 e nota generale alla prima sezione dell’analitica.
Massimo Mori, Storia della filosofia moderna, Bari, Laterza. Capitoli: 5 (Cartesio), 10 (Leibniz), 12 (La filosofia inglese del ‘700); 13 (Hume e la filosofia scozzese nel ‘700); 14 (L’illuminismo francese); 15 (L’illuminismo tedesco e italiano); 16 (Kant). It is possible to substitute this book with the second volume of a book of History of Philosophy, used in the Italian Secondary School;
Lucia Procuranti, La percezione del bello da Descartes a Kant, Trento, Verifiche, 2009, cap. 1, §§ 1.1;1.2;3.1;3.2;3.3;3.4; cap. 2, §§ 3.1;3.2;5.3; cap. 3, §§ 3.1;3.2;3.3;3.4.

Lecture’s notes.

Teaching method: traditional lectures. It is recommended the frequency to the lectures.

Examination Methods

the exam will be oral and it will base on a discussion and a comment to the books quoted above.