HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

Educational goals

The History of Ancient Philosophy course aims to provide students an in-depth knowledge of the ancient phase of the history of philosophical thought, which has already been studied during the three-year degree course, through History of Philosophy, discipline scheduled for the first year of the triennium. The History of Ancient Philosophy course does not overlap in any way with the above-mentioned History of Philosophy, whose objective was a quick and basic presentation of themes and protagonists of the history of philosophy of all historical periods, from antiquity to our days. The purpose of History of Ancient Philosophy is to reconsider the main topics (themes, schools, currents, protagonists) of the history of philosophy, to deepen them with a critical and scientific "cutting", also through the direct reading of sources and the examination of the most accredited literature concerning them. Another important objective of the teaching of History of Ancient Philosophy, as well as to acquire, through the various argumentative models proposed by the various philosophers, both theoretical, practical and methodological knowledge, is to allow the student who wants to choose the professional outlet of secondary teaching, to acquire credits and prerequisites required.

Required prerequisites.

The course of History of Ancient Philosophy requires basic requirements that students have already acquired through the course of History of Philosophy and Education and training in the Greek world. It deals with the knowledge of the historical periodization relative to antiquity, of the main key terms (ontology, cosmology, gnoseology, arché, physis, logos, psyché), of the most important protagonists of the history of ancient philosophy (the Presocraticss, Socrates, the Sophists, Plato, Aristotle).

Course contents
1. Institutional course.

The birth of philosophy. The “invention” of the history of ancient philosophy and the birth of the dossography.

The pre-Socratics. Socrates. The Sophists. Plato. Aristotle.

The main problems faced by ancient philosophers: being (the ontological problem); the truth; knowledge (the gnoseological problem); the problem of good (ethics); the soul; the logos.

2. Part of deepening.

The Ethics of Aristotle. Reading and commentary of the Eudaemian Ethics.

Reference texts

1. Bruno Centrone, Prima lezione di filosofia antica, Roma-Bari, Laterza 2015.

2. R. Loredana Cardullo, Aristotele. Profilo introduttivo, Roma, Carocci 2007 (and subsequent reprints).

3. Aristotele, Etica Eudemia, a cura di Pierluigi Donini, Roma-Bari, Laterza 2005.