Moral Philosophy (2019/2020)

Learning outcomes

The course provides students with a ground knowledge of the main ethical conceptions, as well as the history of moral reflections through the centuries. In doing so, it doesn’t neglect to focus on the ethical problems of our time. Students are expected to learn:
KNOWLEDGE
1. To possess an academically accepted knowledge of the main philosophical reflections on the most important ethical issues;
2. To compare the arguments, the answers and the problems brought forth by moral reflection in time with the most relevant contemporary ethical issues.
ABILITIES:
1. To recognize to which ethical model, past and/or present, a given moral theory belongs;
2. To autonomously formulate assessments on the genesis, the nature, the meaning and possible weak and/or strong points in the issues dealt with during the course:
- 2a. To make the ethical reflections of the past interact with those of today in a critical and historically sound perspective;
3. To recognize today’s pluralism and promote its value, in particular when approaching issues concerning the many forms of difference (philosophical, religious, cultural, sexual) and multiculturalism.

WHAT IS AN ORGANIZATION?

Human being is a desiring machine that acts to satisfy his desires in the world and with others. Organizations and institutions are processes of satisfaction that produce original connections between bodies and the environment. This characteristic distinguishes human organizations from those that are founded by instinct (animals). While instinct allows an immediate satisfaction of vital tendencies through a stereotyped action and always equal to itself, the organization transforms the nature of the elements involved: it is what happens, for example, with marriage in relation to sexual desire. If the latter can have physiological causes, it is the institution of marriage that decides how we deal with those we love, marriage puts partners in a proximity relationship in which they know when and where to find themselves, when and where to let go, organize time and the space of desire. Organizations are not anything abstract, they act on bodies: every organization imposes a series of models on our bodies and brings its effects into the most involuntary behaviors of its members.

Written report of at least 10 pages whose subject must be previously agreed and which will be discussed orally. The report will serve to evaluate the vocabulary, the critical-argumentative capacity, the ability to autonomously rework what has been learned.