History of Contemporary Philosophy (MA)

The course, which belongs to the area of History of Philosophy, contributes to an in-depth critical knowledge of the history of philosophy from the Antiquity to contemporary debates. Aim of the course is to develop a systematic, in-depth knowledge of significant moments in the history of contemporary philosophy through a critical engagement with both primary texts and the relevant secondary literature.

Knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course, the student
understands the vocabulary and knows the methods, the aims and the main subjects of contemporary philosophy;
masters a systematic and in-depth knowledge of the history of contemporary philosophy, based on the study of primary and secondary literature;
has a philologically well-grounded knowledge of the sources of the texts s/he deals with;
understands the historical and philosophical meaning of the texts (read also in their original language) and the transformations of traditions, concepts and argumentative forms of philosophical views;
understands the diverse interpretive takes on the primary sources through different cultural and linguistic contexts;
has proficient knowledge of the bibliographic resources and methodological tools for research on contemporary philosophy.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course, the student
can soundly and adequately make use of the knowledge of the vocabulary, methods, and the main subjects of contemporary philosophy;
can critically apply the acquired knowledge to historical contextualisation of authors and texts;
is able to assess the contemporary philosophical debate and to apply the acquired knowledge on the historical development of the argumentative forms and traditions of thought to the analysis of new texts and philosophical views;
is able to acknowledge the transformation of classical paradigms, traditions and perspectives;
can confidently and independently apply various interpretations to different topics and new problems;
masters the methodological and bibliographic tools of historical-philosophical research to produce original research and discuss the results obtained in presenting them to others, both specialists and non-specialists.