The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning objectives

Metaphysics The course aims to identify the research horizons that characterize metaphysics as the culmination of philosophical inquiry by means of a comparison with an exemplary personality and with a key text in which the question is approached in a theoretically relevant and historically influential way. In such way, the student will be able to acquire the mastery of the metaphysical concepts and lexicon. Secondly, the course aims to provide the critical tools to orient oneself among the different theses, which all often contradict each other, with a special attention to the research perspectives identified by contemporary thought, whose foundations, scope and limits will be discussed. The aim of the course is therefore to provide the students with sufficient critical skills for further study and for the application of their own knowledge to the areas of reference of the current debate, supported by adequate logical-argumentative, hermeneutic, and linguistic skills.

Prerequisites and basic notions

No prerequisites: just basic knowledge of the history of philosophy.

Program

The content of the course of Metaphysics (UL: traditional lectures) is: "Self, world and God according to Leibniz's Discourse of Metaphysics".
The course will follow the internal division of Leibniz’s Discourse of Metaphysics, which is the subject of both the course and the final examination:
1) General introduction to the course, bio-bibliographical introduction to Leibniz and to the philosophical context of the Discourse of Metaphysics;
2) Critical examination of the Discourse of Metaphysics: by means of the traditional lectures held by the teacher;
3) critical examination of the main philosophical positions of the Leibniz's era: in seminar/workshop form by the students (under the guidance of the teacher).
REFERENCE TEXTS
The texts required for the course and the final examination are:
1) Gottfried Wilhelm LEIBNIZ, Discourse of Metaphysics: this text will be available as handout (in full compliance with copyright laws) ONLY on the e-learning platform of the University website: thus, distrust all those copy shops that propose the sale of the above-mentioned handout as “official”.
The reference texts are the same for both attending students and not attending ones.
Additional texts and teaching materials will also be communicated on the e-learning platform of the University website.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

DIDACTIC METHODS
- The teaching methods (for the first part of the course: 24 hours) consist of traditional lectures (face-to-face and online streaming) axed on the reading and the comment on texts of the Discourse of Metaphysics, with the aim of transmitting: 1) the key concepts of theoretical philosophy with regard to the metaphysics; 2) the key concepts of both Leibnitian philosophy and its exegesis; 3) the critical means that are useful for understanding (and for dealing with) the problematic issues involved in Leibniz’s thought.
Each lesson will be recorded and (together with the materials examined during the course) uploaded on the e-learning platform of the University (as mp3 files, or file video via Panopto), with the aim of easing the study for both attending students and those who can not attend lectures, or in the case of the impossibility of face-to-face lessons.
- the second part of the course (for a total of 24 hours) will consist os seminars/workshops (provided face-to-face and streaming online; NOT recorded) carried out by students; under the guidance of the teacher, students (both those who follow the traditional face-to-face lessons and those who attend via streaming Zoom) must deal directly with and analyze the texts of the main philosophers of Leibniz's era concerning "Self, world and God".
The actual way in which this will happen will depend on the number of participating students (in presence and/or via streaming Zoom) and, consequently, will be decided and communicated by the teacher during the first lessons.
REMARK FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS: students who will not be able to attend the lessons (in presence or via streaming Zoom) must replace the second part of the course (that is the sections carried out in a seminar/workshop way) by writing an essay of about 25,000 characters including spaces (font: Times New Roman; font size: 12pt for the body of the text, 10pt for the footnotes; line spacing: 1.5; alignment: justified) concerning a topic chosen together with the teacher. This essay must be submitted (by e-mail to the institutional e-mail address of the teacher) one week before the official examination, in order to allow the the time necessary to formulate a judgment (which will contribute to the final evaluation: see the section "examination methods"). Non-attending students, for writing the essay in replacement of the seminar/workshop part of the course, may possibly require an additional bibliography (depending on their needs/requests / interests, etc.). The teacher will be happy to help them in order to build any additional bibliography.
During the academic year, an individual consultation service is also available (at the teacher's study, by e-mail, or via Zoom) at the times indicated on the web pages (and readily updated), or agreed with the teacher (especially in the case of telematic meetings).
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 learning outcomes of both the key concepts and the issues which concern Leibniz's Discourse of Metaphysics, will be done by means of an oral examination (face-to-face) concerning the programme carried out during the course.
The examination methods are different for attending and non-attending students as regards the following aspects:
• for attending students (in presence and/or via streaming Zoom) the evaluation of their active participation will also contribute to the final evaluation;
• for non-attending students, the teacher, for the final evaluation, will take into consideration his own evaluation of the essay submitted by students (please refer to the "Remark for non-attending students", in the "Teaching methods" section, for typographical standards and submission rules).

Evaluation criteria

The examination consists of questions to test the critical and argumentative abilities of the students, the textual exegesis, the conceptual clarity, and the acquisition of an adequate philosophical vocabulary.

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

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