ECTS - University of Pisa
Scheda programma d'esame
FILOSOFIA DELLA MENTE
ALESSANDRA FUSSI
Academic year2023/24
CoursePHILOSOPHY AND FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE
Code674MM
Credits6
PeriodSemester 1
LanguageItalian

ModulesAreaTypeHoursTeacher(s)
FILOSOFIA DELLA MENTEM-FIL/01LEZIONI36
ALESSANDRA FUSSI unimap
Learning outcomes
Knowledge

Students will gain knowledge regarding theories of emotions, both from a theoretical and a historical-philosophical perspective.
Assessment criteria of knowledge

Active participation in the seminar will be considered important for the assessment of knowledge. Furthermore, students will give oral presentations during the course and will take a final oral exam.
Skills

The student will be able to make a presentation using paper,  ipad handouts or powerpoints and engaging their peers in discussion.
Assessment criteria of skills

The student will be expected to prepare and present an oral report presenting the results of the research activity
Behaviors

The student will be able to handle collaborative responsibilities in a research team
Assessment criteria of behaviors

Individual and group presentations will be evaluated not only for the ability to clearly and competently present the topics, but also for the ability to coordinate with peers in the presentation and to engage students in discussion.
Prerequisites

Basic philosophical knowledge; being able to read philosophical texts in English
Teaching methods

Ample use will be made of the course's Teams or moodle platform (e.g.: downloading teaching materials, teacher-student communications, publishing handouts prior to oral presentations, forming work groups, etc.)
Interaction between student and teacher: meetings in person and electronic mail
Syllabus

T

In this course we will address the relationship between narrative identity, emotions, and existential feelings. In the first part of the course we will deal with some classical conceptions of emotions which identify emotions as occurring events. We will focus on the centrality that different philosophers attribute to bodily feeling, judgment, intentionality, evaluation, and the motivation to act. In this context we will distinguish emotions from moods and feelings.

We will then examine Goldie's thesis that emotions should not be interpreted as occurring events, but rather as processes. We will then examine the argument set forth by Griffith and Scarantino (Emotions in the Wild, 2005), who see emotions as interactions with the world that can be read from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives. This discussion will lay the ground for the question of the relationship between narrative identity and emotional processes (Goldie, The Mess Inside, 2012).

In order to clarify the relationship between emotion as a process, existential feelings and narrative identity, we will turn to the analysis of emotions that entail a reassessment of one’s identity with respect to the past or the future - particularly mourning, regret, hope, and we will consider in this light inter-generational emotions.

 
Bibliography

Since this will be, for all intents and purposes, a seminar involving student presentations, topics and texts may vary depending on the size and specific interests of the group.

This is a list of materials from which we may choose our readings:

  • Bibliografia di massima:

    • Andina, T. (2020), Transgenerazionalità. Una filosofia per le generazioni future, Roma, Carocci.
    • Ben-Ze'ev, A. (2001). The Subtlety of Emotions, Boston (MA), MIT Press.
    • Bloeser, C. and Stahl,T., "Hope", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/hope/>.
    • Caruana, F., Viola, M. (2018). Come funzionano le emozioni. Bologna, il Mulino.
    • Deonna , J. A. and Teroni, F. (2012). The Emotions: A Philosophical Introduction, London, Routledge.
    • Freud S. (1915 -1917]) “Lutto e melanconia.” Opere”, vol 8 Ed. Boringhieri, 1976.
    • Fuchs, Thomas. 2018. “Presence in Absence: The Ambiguous Phenomenology of Grief”. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 17: 43-63.
    • Goldie, P. (2012). The Mess Inside. Narrative, Emotion, and the Mind. Oxford University Press.
    • Griffiths, P. E., and Scarantino, A. (2009). Emotions in the wild, in The Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition, eds P. Robbins and M. Aydede (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 437–453.
    • Ingerslev, Line (2018). Ongoing: On grief’s open-ended rehearsal. Continental Philosophy Review. 51. 10.1007/s11007-017-9423-7.
    • James, W. (1884), “What is an Emotion?”, in «Mind» 9/34, pp. 188-205.
    • Lear, J. (2006). Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
    • Leighton, S. (1982). Aristotle and the Emotions. Phronesis Vol. 27, No. 2 (1982), pp. 144-174.
    • Meirav, A. (2009). The Nature of Hope, «Ratio», 22(2): 216–33. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9329.2009.00427.x
    • M. Miceli, C. Castelfranchi (2015). Expectancy and Emotion, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
    • Nussbaum, M. (2004). Emotions as Judgments of Value and Importance. In R. C. Solomon (Ed.), Thinking about feeling: Contemporary philosophers on emotions (pp. 183–199). Oxford University Press.
    • Rapp, C. (2005). “L’arte di suscitare le emozioni nella Retorica di Aristotele”, Acta Philosophica ii, 14, pp. 313-326.
    • Ratcliffe, M. (2005b). “The Feeling of Being. “ Journal of Consciousness Studies 12 (8–10): 43–60.
    • Ratcliffe, M. (2008). Feelings of Being: Phenomenology, Psychiatry and the Sense of Reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • Ratcliffe, M. (2015). Experiences of Depression. A Study in Phenomenology, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
    • Ratcliffe, M. (2023). “Grief over Non-Death Losses: A Phenomenological Perspective”, https://doi.org/10.59123/passion.v1i1.12287.
    • Rinofner-Kreidl, Sonja. 2016. “On Grief’s Ambiguous Nature: Persisting vs. Transforming, Concealed vs. Expressed”. Quaestiones Disputatae 7 (1): 178-207.
    • A. Steinbock (2014). Moral Emotions: Reclaiming the Evidence of the Heart, Northwestern University Press,Evanston, Illinois  (Cap. 5: "Hope and Despair").

     
Non-attending students info

Since this is a seminar, attendance and active participation in class is considered essential. Those who cannot attend this course may contact the Professor to arrange for a 10-page written report (to which will be added an oral examination on two articles or two chapters chosen from those in the bibliography).
Assessment methods

Students will be expected to engage in an oral presentation (individually or in groups) on texts agreed upon with the instructor. They will also have to take a final exam discussing TWO ARTICLES (OR BOOK CHAPTERS) present in the bibliography (or made available during the semester). 

 
Updated: 08/09/2023 23:54