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 19, 2024 al Mar 29, 2024.

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 the ancient and mediaeval philosophy allows to work easier within this scientific field: however it is not compulsory. The same can be said as to the ancient Greek and Latin languages. More important is a careful lexical research and an interest in a critical reading of philosophical texts.

Program

Title and content of the course: "Dialogue and Socratic Paideia".

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 and Xenophon, but also in Aeschines and Phaedo). 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. Recordings are available on Moodle at the end of each lesson. NB: listening to the recordings does not replace reading the scheduled texts. With regard to the methods for requesting support from students in solitary confinement, the coronavirus Info Student web page has been updated. By clicking on the item "Lessons, exams and degree exams - request form for date change/supplementary teaching material", students can download the form to self-certify their positivity and request the supplementary material from the teacher. Students in particularly fragile situations, unable to attend lessons due to particularly disabling disabilities or learning disabilities, are invited to contact the "Inclusion and Accessibility Service", which will assess the actual impossibility of attendance on a case-by-case basis and will agree on the methods of support with the teachers concerned.

Learning assessment procedures

Teaching method: The course will be held in accordance with the University provisions on COVID-19. Frontal lessons and seminars are foreseen with direct reading of texts and subsequent common discussion; therefore attendance is useful and therefore desirable, although obviously not compulsory. Reception: Throughout the academic year, the teacher receives either at his studio, or via e-mail or via Zoom or Skype, at the times indicated on the web pages or at times agreed with the teacher (especially in the case of online meetings) .

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 (prevalentemente ma non esclusivamente)