2017/2018

2018/2019

DM270

M-FIL/01 (THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY)

DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES

PHILOSOPHY

PERCORSO COMUNE

2°

1st semester (24/09/2018 - 09/01/2019)

6

36 lesson hours

Italian

ORAL TEST

VANZAGO LUCA (titolare) - 6 ECTS

Having passed the examination in Theoretical Philosophy.

The course aims to provide the means to acquire the basic concepts of the discipline, and the attitude at critical thinking.

The problem of the technology. Philosophic genealogy of a current question.

The course sets out to investigate some current issues related to the question of technology, adopting a genealogical perspective that reconstructs some of its essential traits. Since this is a very large issue it will not be possible to exhaust it in a course. Therefore, we intend to lay the foundations for an adequate understanding of the origins, the main aspects and the problems that the contemporary development of technology possesses, and of its philosophical meaning. Literature is already vast. In order to find some of the fundamental steps that mark the current debate, the lectures will start from the analysis offered by Karl Jaspers contained in the work The spiritual situation of the time, which in many ways anticipate the current world and in particular the human condition in the age of social media. The course will then focus on the debate between Junger and Heidegger on the problem of technology and the meaning of nihilism in the light of the writings collected in the book Oltre la linea. Heidegger will also be discussed in the light of the fundamental ideas contained in the essay The question of technology and its theoretical basis outlined in The Age of the Image of the World. Starting from the results of this debate, the theses of the Frankfurt School will be examined in the light of an exemplary text by Jean-François Lyotard in his The Postmodern Condition. Finally, some of the most current questions will be discussed in the light of the contemporary debate, in particular regarding the relationship between technology and human life, with particular reference to the ideas of Hans Jonas. This course begins a cycle of interventions aimed at developing lines of understanding of the current era according to a perspective that can be traced back to the Foucaultian concept of ontology of the present or of actuality, a project that will be continued in the next academic year.

Lectures, seminars.

The teacher presents the main concepts contained in the texts analyzed in class, and critically discusses the meaning with the aim of outlining its implications. The seminar structure favors the personal discussion in order to have a profound appropriation and a comparative assessment of the theses investigated.

Main texts:

K. Jaspers, La situazione spirituale del tempo, Jouvence 1982.
E. Jünger - M. Heidegger, Oltre la linea, Adelphi 1990.
M. Heidegger, La questione della tecnica, in Saggi e discorsi, Mursia 2015.
M. Heidegger, L'epoca dell'immagine del mondo, in Sentieri interrotti, La Nuova Italia 1997.
J.-F. Lyotard, La condizione postmoderna, Feltrinelli 2014.
H. Jonas, Frontiere della vita, frontiere della tecnica, Il Mulino 2011.

Further reading:

M. Nacci, Pensare la tecnica, Laterza 2000.

Written examination.

The exam consists in the drafting of a paper (at least 20000 characters long) that critically discusses some of the problems encountered during the lectures, making a personal choice that forms part of the test. The student must show preparation, understanding the texts and problems examined, and personal appropriation skills of the fundamental implications of the ideas discussed in class.

Written examination.

The exam consists in the drafting of a paper (at least 20000 characters long) that critically discusses some of the problems encountered during the lectures, making a personal choice that forms part of the test. The student must show preparation, understanding the texts and problems examined, and personal appropriation skills of the fundamental implications of the ideas discussed in class.