History of Philosophy

The teaching aims at providing students with an in-depth knowledge of relevant topics in the history of Western philosophy and of their different interpretations. The student will acquire the methodological tools needed to develop an autonomous critical and interpretative assessment of philosophical texts and theories in their historical context.

Knowledge and understanding
By the end of the course, the student will have acquired:
- an intimate knowledge of relevant themes in the history of Western philosophy, of their tradition and transformations. This knowledge will be gained through close reading of philosophical classics.
- an intimate knowledge of the terminology of philosophy and of the semantic nuances that philosophical terms can have in different historical and theoretical contexts.
- an in-depth philological understanding the way sources are used in philosophical texts.
- a critical understanding of the main interpretative options emerging from the scholarly tradition.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
By the end of the course, the student will be able to:
- apply the acquired reading skills to the independent critical analysis of philosophical texts, whose themes and lines of argument the student will be able to assess and evaluate against the background of their tradition and transformations.
- apply the intimate knowledge of the terminology of philosophy to the understanding of its nuances in different historical and theoretical contexts.
- apply the acquired knowledge of methodological and bibliographic tools to independent research in the history of philosophy.