Teaching code

4S007340

Teacher

Davide Poggi

Coordinator

Davide Poggi

Credits

6

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

M-FIL/01 - THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY

Period

Sem. 2B dal Apr 14, 2021 al May 29, 2021.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning outcomes

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.

Program

SYLLABUS

The contents of the course of Metaphysics will follow the internal division of Leibniz’s Discourse of Metaphysics and Monadology, which are the subjects 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 and the Monadology;
2) Critical examination of the Discourse of Metaphysics;
3) Critical examination of the Monadology.


DIDACTIC METHODS

The teaching methods consist of traditional lectures (face-to-face and online, that is "blended", by means of the tools made available by the University of Verona) axed on the reading and the comment on texts of the Discourse of Metaphysics and the Monadology, 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.
During the academic year, an individual consultation service is also available (at the teacher's study, by e-mail, or via Zoom/Skype) 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.


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”;
2) Gottfried Wilhelm LEIBNIZ, The Principles of Philosophy or Monadology, Italian edition with French original text, introduction, translation, notes by S. Cariati, Milano, Bompiani, 2001; this edition also includes both the Italian translation and the French original text of the Principles of Nature and Grace Based on Reason and, in the Appendix, both the Latin version and the German one of the Monadology.

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.

Examination Methods

The assessment of the learning outcomes of both the key concepts and the issues which concern the Discourse of Metaphysics and the Monadology will be done by means of an oral examination (face-to-face or via Zoom/Skype) concerning the programme carried out during the course.
This 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.

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

The examination is the same for both attending students and non-attending ones.