For a history of practical imagination (Ordinario)

Academic year 2025/2026
Lecturer Alfredo Ferrarin

Integrative teaching

Stefano Franchini, Alberto Zali

Examination procedure

<p>oral exam (1st year); seminar, or final paper.</p>

Examination procedure notes

<p>Attendance is mandatory and will be evaluated in the final grade. Likewise, participation in class discussion and weekly readings will be part of the final grade, as per the 'Goals of the course'.</p>

Prerequisites

The first part of the course is specially designed for BA students and will take place in November and December.

The second part will be for both undergrads and graduate students and will take place from February 16 to early April.


In this second part undergraduate students (from the second year on) interested in giving a seminar presentation on philosophers of their choice will be able to do so, provided the topic has been agreed upon with the instructor. Among examples of possible seminar topics are Montaigne, Pascal, Hume, Smith; in phenomenology, Stein, Schütz, Sartre, Marcuse; in psychoanalysis, Freud; in political philosophy, the theme of utopia (e.g., in More, Campanella, Fourier, Swift).

Syllabus

We will read some select writings on the history of practical imagination. Among them, Aristotle's De anima and De memoria, Hobbes' Leviathan, Rousseau's Second Discourse, and Kant's Conjectures on the beginnings of human history

Bibliographical references

The texts for this course include:


Aristotele, L'anima, a cura di G. Movia, Loffredo 1979

Aristotele, Il movimento degli animali, a cura di P. Giuffrida, Mimesis 2014

Aristotele, Memoria e reminiscenza, a cura di G. Nastasi, IISF Press

T. Hobbes, Leviatano, a cura di A. Pacchi, Laterza 1991

J.J. Rousseau, Scritti politici, vol. 1, a cura di E. Garin, Laterza 1971

I. Kant, Scritti di storia, politica e diritto, a cura di F. Gonnelli, Laterza 1995

A. Ferrarin, Un mondo non di questo mondo. La realtà delle immagini e l'immaginazione, ETS 2023