Learning objectives
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Prerequisites
No specific prerequisites. The course is aimed at those who lack specific skills and knowledge in the history of philosophy.
Course unit content
Title: “The wheel of fortune. Determinism, contingency and luck from Boethius to Macchiavelli"
The theme of the course concerns a long philosophical controversy: how much of what happens in the human and natural world is the result of predetermined causes (or of "destiny", of "fortune", of "divine providence", depending on the era and of the reference tradition) and how much is the result of free human choice and natural contingency? The question of free will and its opposition to determinism has been discussed by many philosophers, from ancient to contemporary times. In this course we will start from some ancient sources (in particular, from the texts of the Stoic tradition, by Cicero, Alexander of Aphrodisias and Augustine) and we will then continue by following the developments of the debate on freedom and determinism in some medieval authors (Boethius, Abelard , Ockham) and Renaissance (Pomponazzi, Luther, Erasmus of Rotterdam and Niccolò Macchiavelli).
Full programme
Title: “Determinism, contingency and luck from Boethius to Machiavelli”
The theme of the course concerns a long philosophical controversy: how much of what happens in the human and natural world is the result of predetermined causes (or of "destiny", of "fortune", of "divine providence", depending on the era and of the reference tradition) and how much is the result of free human choice and natural contingency? The question of free will and its opposition to determinism has been discussed by many philosophers, from ancient to contemporary times. In this course we will start from some ancient sources (in particular, from the texts of the Stoic tradition, by Cicero, Alexander of Aphrodisias and Augustine) and we will then continue by following the developments of the debate on freedom and determinism in some medieval authors (Boethius, Abelard , Ockham) and Renaissance (Pomponazzi, Luther, Erasmus of Rotterdam and Niccolò Macchiavelli).
Bibliography
The study of the following text is required (accompanied by the analysis of the ancient, medieval and Renaissance sources discussed during the lessons):
Free will. History of a philosophical controversy, edited by: Mario De Caro, Massimo Mori, Emidio Spinelli, Carocci, 2015.
Any other teaching material examined or distributed during the lessons will be made available on the ELLY platform under the course heading.
To facilitate exam preparation for students who are unable to attend lessons regularly, handouts and audio recordings of the lessons will be made available on the course website at elly.unipr.it.
Non-attending students are warmly invited to contact the teacher via email and/or reception (in person or on Teams) to agree on the program and exam methods and to clarify any doubts about the course preparation material.
Teaching methods
The course will consist of both frontal lessons and moments of discussion and exchange starting from the reading and interpretation of the texts.
During the lessons, the themes that constitute the general contents of the course will be discussed and other teaching material may be distributed in addition to that indicated in the bibliography, which will in any case be made available on the ELLY platform, under the course heading. The lessons may be accompanied by seminars and exercises reserved for the reading of texts and the in-depth analysis and/or discussion of the points
problems of the course, also in collaboration with external teachers.
The lessons will take place in mixed mode (in person and will be streamed on the Teams platform). The lessons will be recorded and the links to access the recordings will be indicated on the ELLY platform, under the course heading.
Assessment methods and criteria
The knowledge and ability to understand and apply the knowledge acquired will be verified through two methods:
1) ongoing: participation in class discussion, participation during reading and commenting on the texts read in class, and the short weekly reading and writing exercises presented by the teacher will be evaluated.
These exercises have the value of practical exercises and do not necessarily affect the final grade; their drafting is however necessary to be able to participate in the oral exam.
2) Final exam: oral exam on the bibliography texts. The final exam aims to verify the level of knowledge and the skills and abilities acquired by the student. Average exam duration approximately 30 minutes. The oral exam aims to verify: 1) the degree of historical, philosophical and historiographical knowledge achieved by the student; 2) the student's ability to follow the development of a concept or doctrine, in the same field and/or in interdisciplinary fields, and to reconstruct a cultural context with particular attention to the dialectics of different
positions involved; 3) the degree of knowledge of the philosophical vocabulary and, specifically, of the terminology of medieval and Renaissance philosophical thought; 4) the ability to historical-philosophical contextualization and analysis of a philosophical text.
The final grade (on a scale of 0-30) is the result of the oral exam and will be determined according to five parameters: 1) order and accuracy of presentation; 2) critical reasoning ability and independent judgement; 3) ability to delve deeper into a concept or doctrine, both on a historical and philosophical level, and to establish relationships and connections, both historical and philosophical; 4) ability to read, understand and analyze philosophical texts; 5) breadth and level of historical and philosophical preparation achieved on the basis of the texts indicated in the bibliography.
The exam is passed
if you reach the minimum mark of 18/30. The final grade will be assigned according to the following table:
30 cum laude: excellent; solid and extensive knowledge of ancient and medieval philosophy, excellent expressive skills, complete and exhaustive understanding and analysis of texts, concepts and/or topics of ancient and medieval philosophy;
30: excellent; complete and adequate knowledge, excellent analytical skills, ability to express oneself
correct and excellently articulated;
27-29: very good; more than satisfactory knowledge, adequate analytical skills and essentially correct and structured expression skills;
24-26: good; good but not complete knowledge, satisfactory analytical skills and ability to
expression not always correct.
21-23: fair; knowledge that is discrete even if superficial, analytical ability that is sometimes unsatisfactory and ability to express itself that is sometimes inappropriate;
18-20: sufficient;
acceptable but very superficial knowledge, unsatisfactory analytical skills, often inappropriate ability to express oneself;
0-17: insufficient; the preparation presents serious shortcomings from the point of view of
contents, serious lack of clarity in the exposition, inability to understand and analyze texts, concepts and/or arguments on medieval and Renaissance philosophical thought.
Other information
Two or three exam sessions are scheduled per exam session, as per the calendar.
