History of Modern Philosophy (MA)

The course aims to allow students to acquire the methodological and critical tools characterising philosophical studies in the history of early modern philosophy, together with a sound general knowledge of the historical evolution of early modern philosophical thought. To comply with the typically interdisciplinary character of philosophical research, the course also enables students to acquire adequate historical, linguistic and philological training, according to the study of the early modern age.
The analysis of the discussion of a crucial philosophical theme from the 15th to the 17th century will allow students to develop an in-depth knowledge of the various phases of the early modern philosophical tradition and the intersections between metaphysical, political, philological, theological, and moral perspectives.

Knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course, the student
1. masters a systematic and in-depth knowledge of the history of early modern philosophy, acquired through the reading of some classics of the early modern period and the study of secondary literature
2. has a philologically sound knowledge of the sources of early modern texts
3. understands the historical and theoretical meaning of early modern texts (also in their original language) and the transformations of traditions, concepts and argumentative forms over time
4. understands the various interpretations of texts analysed in different chronological, cultural and linguistic contexts in the early modern tradition
5. has proficient knowledge of the bibliographic resources and methodological tools characterising the historical-philosophical research, with special reference to the early modern period.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course, the student
1. can apply the knowledge acquired in framing historically authors and texts from the early modern period
2. can soundly and adequately make use of the early modern philosophical lexicon, with philological awareness
3. can apply the acquired knowledge on the historical development of the argumentative forms, traditions of the early modern thought to the analysis of new textual and theoretical problems
4. can master and apply the methodological resources and bibliographic tools of historical-philosophical research in the early modern context and can produce original research, discussing the results obtained and presenting them to others.