Teaching code

4S012320

Teacher

Guido Cusinato

Coordinator

Guido Cusinato

Credits

6

Also offered in courses:

• Philosophy of Religion of the course Bachelor's degree in Philosophy

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

M-FIL/01 - THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY

Period

Sem. 1B dal Nov 10, 2025 al Dec 24, 2025.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

The course aims to provide the knowledge and skills necessary to independently analyze and interpret some of the major themes at the heart of the phenomenological tradition. In particular, the aim of the course is to shed light on the logics and conceptual structures through which phenomenological experience understands and transforms the world in which we live. The course will provide the conceptual, methodological and cultural elements to form and increase critical and argumentative skills, as well as adequate linguistic competence in the subject. At the end of the course the student will know the fundamental conceptual lines of the phenomenological tradition, and the most important debates within the contemporary phenomenological debate; he/she will be able to understand philosophical texts, to frame them critically and to correctly interpret them; will be able to appropriately employ philosophical terminology; will be able to independently make judgments about the discussed topics; will be able to communicate philosophical arguments to specialists and non-specialists, and to pursue her/his philosophical studies.

Prerequisites and basic notions

No prerequisites are required.

Program

Course topic: Phenomenology of existential orientation.
We live in an age that, obsessed with success and image, seems to have silenced the most important question of all: “Why?”. This course offers the tools of phenomenology to return to asking this question and, above all, to learn to listen to the answers based on experience. Our starting point will be an invitation to set aside preconceived theories and return to “the things themselves”: the experiences, emotions and events that shape our existence.
The basic thesis is that the ultimate source of our existential orientation lies in the affective sphere and that the current crisis of orientation stems from the mass atrophy of the process of affective maturation and the lack of knowledge and experience of the best techniques for reactivating it. We are like fireflies that have forgotten how to glow and have since begun to flit around the magic lantern of the ascetic ideal, already criticised by Nietzsche, and then around neon advertising signs, fireflies that have forgotten that they have a precious source of orientation in their own affective structure.
Three compulsory texts must be brought to the examination:
1) G. Cusinato, Vuoto aurorale, Il Melangolo 2025
2) Max Scheler, Essenza della filosofia (40-page essay available in PDF format on the Moodle platform);
3) One of these texts:
a) Max Scheler, Scritti fenomenologici, FrancoAngeli.
b) F. Toccafondi, Max Scheler, Mimesis.
c) D. Zahavi, Il primo libro di fenomenologia, Einaudi.
Suggestion regarding the text ‘Scritti fenomenologici’: Pay particular attention to the use of the term “intuition” (Anschauung), which Scheler will abandon in subsequent texts, and to the concepts of ‘self-giveness’ (Selbstgegebenheit) and also ‘natural worldview’ (which will later be taken up and developed by Alfred Schütz and Husserl with the concept of Lebenswelt). What to study: Scheler's two essays and my Introduction; you can skip the Reading Guide.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

Lectures will be predominantly face-to-face -- and will proceed in the form of commentary, re-elaboration, and extension of the texts examined -- but with ample time devoted to possible discussion and interaction. Part of the lectures will be video-recorded and made available on Moodle. However, an organic and coherent series of recordings will be devised, incorporating material from other lectures and conferences to offer non-attending students an adequate introduction to the course.

Learning assessment procedures

Learning outcomes will be assessed through an oral exam. This will cover the syllabus texts and topics discussed in class. Students who do not attend classes will refer to video recordings instead.
Students may bring a written essay to the exam as a writing exercise. This should be conceived as a reasoned summary of the most impactful or interesting parts of the course texts. To avoid confusion between your own comments and quotations, the latter should be placed in quotation marks, indicating the page number. The essay should conclude with a personal reflection of a couple of pages, to which you may refer your own experience or other texts. It is advisable to send a first draft of the essay to the lecturer in advance to receive initial feedback and avoid going off topic. The essay will be graded on a scale of 0 to 2 and added to the oral exam grade. The essay, which should be approximately 20,000 characters long, must be submitted by email at least five days before the discussion. The Word file must be named with your surname and course title.

Evaluation criteria

In the evaluation of the exam, the following will be considered in particular: 1) possession of a thorough knowledge of the main themes of the program texts elaborated during the course (points 12/30); 2) the ability to argue and develop an autonomous and original reflection about the theoretical implications of these themes (points 12/30; 3) competence in the specialized vocabulary (points 6/30).

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The grade will consider the knowledge acquired and the ability to rework it originally.

Exam language

italiano