Learning outcomes

The course aims at introducing and discussing some of the major issues concerning political philosophy, especially those related to the contemporary global challenges that interest this field of research.

Program

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge in the History of Philosophy

Course contents: On Violence: a history of the concept.
The course aims at analyzing, through the reading of some major classics of the history of political thought, the concept of violence and its justification within political action. How and to which extent has violence been considered a necessary aspect of power? How and to which extent can we, on the basis of some Arendtian suggestions, explicit a critique of violence based on a radically new notion of political power? To answer these, and many other questions students are requested to read thoroughly some of the most influential thinkers of violence of the 20th century.

Bibliography:
Karl Marx, La cosiddetta accumulazione originaria in Il Capitale, Editori Riuniti, Roma 1989, I, VII, ch. 24, pp. 777-826.
Georges Sorel, Riflessioni sulla violenza, in Scritti politici, UTET, Torino 2006, pp. 83-421.
Frantz Fanon, I dannati della terra, Einaudi, Torino 2007
Hannah Arendt, Sulla violenza, Guanda Milano 2008
Olivia Guaraldo (a cura di), Il Novecento di Hannah Arendt. Un lessico politico, ombre corte, Verona 2008.

Teaching methods: Lectures based on reading and interpretation of the texts.

Examination Methods

Oral examination