History of Contemporary Philosophy (2017/2018)

Learning outcomes

Horizon 2020 asks for societies in Europe that are inclusive, innovative and reflective. The course on History of Contemporary Philosophy for the “Master's degree in Human Resources Training and Development” offers to students an approach that is innovative and certainly reflexive to the theme of inclusion. Teaching objectives are (1) knowledge and understanding of twentieth-century and recent debates on the philosophy of religion in their systematic taxonomy, (2) their application to inter-religious dialogue within Abrahamic monotheism, (3) establishing the ability to formulate judgments (ability to integrate knowledge and handle complexity, and formulate judgments with incomplete or limited information, but that include reflecting on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments) e (4) strengthen communicative abilities (communicate their conclusions, and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these, to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously).

THE CONCEPT OF GOD IN ABRAHAMIC MONOTHEISM. When philosophy considers the question of God, it does it on a metatheoretical dimension, which means first and foremost looking at interreligious dialogue. For which it bears responsibility. It ought not to renounce it. It is true philosophy is not neutral, but it is it that poses the conditions for dialogue, which is the fact of reason. Philosophers have the task of double questioning religious texts from an interreligious and intercultural perspective. From a foundational point of view, Philosophy of Religion works the same way Philosophy of Law does. In fact, so as natural law poses the condition for the possibility of all legal orders, so does the concept of God offer to speculative theology the condition of possibility of all Holy Writings, which is immediately clear in the case of Abrahamic monotheism, where the concept of one God is the foundation of the Revelations of Jews, Christians and Muslims. The point is, however, that philosophers are neither jurists nor theologians. They think the question of God, because otherwise philosophy gives up on itself as soon as it abandons this question. Were philosophers to think like jurists, they would consider religion as a right within a multireligious and multicultural society, for which the legislative power has committed itself since a determinate moment in history. Were they to think like theologians, they would evaluate religious propositions in as far as they are in accordance with the Canonic books they call for.
Required texts: http://wdl.org; H. NAGL-DOCEKAL, W. KALTENBACHER e C. MELICA (eds.), La religione dopo la critica alla religione, La scuola di Pitagora, Napoli 2017; M. FERRARIS, Manifesto del nuovo realismo, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2012; M. DAMONTE, Una nuova teologia naturale, Carocci, Roma 2011. Recommended: John W. MEYER, World Society and the Nation-State, in: «American Journal of Sociology» 103 (1997), pp. 144-181; canonical offerings from the World Digital Library, http://wdl.org.
Teaching methods: Lectures with seminal discussion. Papers offered by external scholars are planned with the aim of enriching the common work. Themes and dates of these papers will be indicated as soon as possible. While attendance is not mandatory, it is highly recommended.

The exam will be an oral discussion and commentare t the required texts. For attendees, it will be possible to divide the exam into an oral and a written part, the former making 50% of the grade, the latter the remaining 50%. The written exam will consist of ten multiple choice question (75% of the grade) e two open answers (20% of the grade).

STUDENT MODULE EVALUATION - 2017/2018