Teaching code

4S00985

Teacher

Gualtiero Lorini

Coordinator

Gualtiero Lorini

Credits

6

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

M-FIL/01 - THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY

Period

Sem. 1A dal Sep 23, 2024 al Oct 31, 2024.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

Hermeneutics
The principal aim of the course is to give an adequate understanding of what philosophical hermeneutics properly is. Hermeneutics is usually understood as the discipline and art of interpretation. This type of hermeneutics arises from the exegesis of sacred and humanistic texts, which follows the rediscovery of Greek civilization with the Italian Renaissance and the free reading of the Bible with the German Reformation. The theory of interpretation is a variety of philological and religious hermeneutics, it is a tool for understanding the written text and the dogmatic subjectivity. Instead, properly philosophical hermeneutics is not a theory of interpretation and has nothing to do with text and language. Philosophical hermeneutics was born in the twentieth century with Husserl - which defines phenomenology as a “hermeneutics of conscious life” – and with Heidegger, for whom the exercise of philosophy is a “hermeneutics of facticity”, i.e. the understanding existence has of itself. Such hermeneutics is not “interpretation” but “explication” and “unfolding” (Auslegung), i.e. spontaneous articulation of being, an event that precedes language and in which Being unfolds and participates in all possible ways of being.
At the end of the course, students will be able to follow the twisting paths of 20th century hermeneutics with greater awareness and agility, thus enhancing their knowledge of contemporary philosophical debate. They will have the capacity to autonomously comprehend texts and subjects addressed during the course, to employ a proper philosophical terminology, to communicate philosophical topics with specialists and non-specialists, and the ability to to continue studies at a MA level.

Prerequisites and basic notions

No specific prerequisites are required beyond a basic knowledge of the history of Western philosophy.

Program

The lectures will address selected passages taken from the pivotal texts of philosophical hermeneutics, from its founding to its most recent expressions—such as those variously expressed in Husser’s phenomenology and Heidegger’s ontological analytics—in order to reconstruct its historical genesis, outline its methodological contours and delve into the ways in which it is applied to philosophical texts. Special attention will be devoted to concepts such as those of “understanding” and “interpretation,” in order to bring out, on the one hand, the often implicit, and therefore unthematized, assumptions underlying the meaning of these terms and, on the other hand, the room for the development of these meanings that is opened up by the hermeneutic point of view.
Reference texts:
- F.D. Schleiermacher, Ermeneutica, tr. it. a cura di M. Marassi, Bompiani, Milano 2000 (selected passages).
- W. Dilthey, La nascita dell’ermeneutica, tr. it. a cura di F. Camera, Il melangolo, Genova 2013 (selected passages).
- H. G. Gadamer, Verità e metodo, tr. it a cura di G. Vattimo, Bompiani, Milano 2000 (selected passages).
- P. Ricœr, Il conflitto delle interpretazioni, tr. it a cura di R. Balzarotti e F. Botturi, Jaca Book, Milano 2007 (selected passages).

Didactic methods

The course will be conducted through traditional lectures aimed at presenting the texts under study, commenting on significant parts of them and constructing an organic path that will also make use of references drawn from critical studies devoted to the thought of the authors treated. Regarding the latter references, all coordinates will be provided so that students interested in further investigation can find the texts and continue independently, given the teacher’s constant willingness to confront them, in the analysis of issues that have aroused their particular interest. The lectures will also seek to stimulate students to take as informed but at the same time autonomous, and possibly critical, views as possible on the problems at stake, thereby ideally applying the hermeneutic method that is being studied.
Each lesson will be recorded and uploaded on the e-learning platform of the University, with the aim of making easier the study for both attending students and those who cannot attend lectures.
Besides the reception time indicated on the teacher’s webpage, it will always be possible to arrange for a reception also in online mode.
Any suspension of lectures for academic reasons will be readily communicated in the classroom, on the web site, and on the e-learning platform forum.

Learning assessment procedures

The assessment of the acquisition of the fundamental concepts of the course will be exclusively through an in-person oral examination (or remotely, via Zoom), in which the student will be required, in addition to demonstrating adequate knowledge of the content presented in class, to show solid and independent argumentative skills.

Evaluation criteria

The assessment of the acquisition of the fundamental concepts of the course will be exclusively through an in-person oral examination (or remotely, via Zoom), in which the student will be required, in addition to demonstrating adequate knowledge of the content presented in class, to show solid and independent argumentative skills.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The grades are expressed in thirtieths (and in special cases the mention of praise is also granted).

Exam language

Italiano