Teaching code

4S008178

Teacher

Alessandro Stavru

Coordinator

Alessandro Stavru

Credits

6

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

M-FIL/07 - HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

Period

Sem. 2A dal Feb 17, 2025 al Mar 29, 2025.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

Knowledge and understanding 1. To know and understand the structural relation between the character of Socrates and the practice of maieutic dialogue. 2. To know and understand the pedagogical relevance of the classical "paideia", in particular the how it is described and practiced by Socrates in the Platonic dialogues and in the Socratic literature. 3. Knowing and understanding several fundamental elements of the Socratic dialogue: the search for meaning, irony, refutation, paradox, the exhortation to self-care and to the value of life within the "polis". Applying knowledge and understanding 1. Understanding the theoretical meaning of the Socratic dialogue in the contemporary ways of communication, focusing on issues of both continuity and discontinuity ad to the problems involved. 2. Rethinking and reformulating the educational dialogue, as a commonly understood today, in the light of the Socratic practice of dialogue, as presented in the Platonic dialogues and in the Socratic literature. 3. Rethinking the professional profile and lifestyle of the educator and pedagogist by looking at the way Socrates thinks and acts in the Platonic dialogues and the Socratic literature.

Prerequisites and basic notions

Surely a previous knowledge of the history of ancient philosophy is helpful; however it is not compulsory. The same applies to ancient Greek and Latin. More important is a careful lexical research and a critical reading of philosophical texts.

Program

Titolo and Content of the Course: “Care in Socratic Paideia”
DESCRIPTION
The course tackles the educational strategies implied in the Socratic dialogue (questioning, examination, refutation, care of the self, irony, maieutics, logic, and dialectics) in the first-generation Socratics (especially in Plato, Xenophon, and Aeschines). We will investigate the lines of continuity and discontinuity between the dialogue practiced by Socrates and the Greek notion of Paideia, with particular reference not only to the life of Athens in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, but also to the reception and application of the Socratic dialogue in contemporary educational practices such as the Philosophy for Children, the Cooperative Learning and the Problem-Based Learning.
The course will provide a shared reading of dialogical units drawn from Socratic literature: students will be involved in discussing the positions held by the characters in the text and, where possible, in applying the educational tenets of the Socratic dialogue to concrete situations.
TEXTS TO BE READ FOR THE ORAL EXAM:
A) A. Stavru, A colloquio con Socrate. La cura di sé nel dialogo socratico, Marinotti, Milano 2023 (in full).
B) L. Napolitano, Il dialogo socratico, Milano, Mimesis 2018 (the student will pick one modern author among those in the first part of the book).
C) Course reserve:
1. W. Jaeger, chapter on 'Socrates' included in Id., Paideia, vol. III (Bompiani, Milano 2003).
2. L. Mortari, ‘Dialogare per imparare a pensare’, in: Ead., A scuola di libertà. Formazione e pensiero autonomo, Cortina, Milano 2008, pp. 37-70.
3. J. Ambury, Dialectical Epimeleia, in: “Plato Journal”, 17, 2018, pp. 85-99.
(Text 1 is compulsory; pick a text among 2. and 3.).
The course reserve is available both on the Moodle page and at the copy shop Replay Verona, Via S. Francesco 18/A. The course reserve as well at the recordings of the lesson are compulsory.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:
Non-attending students will bring the same texts as attending students, except for the volume by L. Napolitano "Il dialogo socratico," which will be read in full.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

The teaching is carried out in frontal mode. The recordings of the lessons are available on the Moodle page of the course.
Students in special situations of fragility, unable to attend classes due to disability conditions or particularly disabling learning disorders, are invited to contact the "Inclusion and Accessibility Service", which will assess on a case-by-case basis the actual impossibility of attendance and agree with the teachers concerned on how to support them.

Learning assessment procedures

The student will be examined orally. She will - optionally and voluntarily - to prepare an essay of 5-10 folders on the monographic section of the course, which will become the starting point for the oral exam (the essays must be delivered to the teacher, also by email, at least one week before the exam date).
The average duration of the exam session is 10-15 minutes. The exam methods are differentiated between attending and non-attending students.

Evaluation criteria

Ability to organize and articulate the acquired knowledge; critical reasoning on the topics of the course; quality, depth and coherence of the exposition, competence in the use of terminology and expressions rerlated to ancient philosophy.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The evaluation is expressed in a grade out of thirty.

Exam language

Italiano (lingua prevalente ma non esclusiva)