Ateneo - UPO

Philosophy, Interpretation, Interculturality

Il pensiero ermeneutico, a cura di M. Ravera, Marietti, Genova 1986, pp. 113-136, 173-198 M. Heidegger, Essere e tempo, Longanesi, Milano 2018 H.-G. Gadamer, Verità e metodo, Bompiani, Milano 1989 L. Pareyson, Verità e interpretazione, Mursia, Milano 1971 P. Ricoeur, tr. it. Il conflitto delle interpretazioni, Jaca Book, Milano 1986 P. Ricoeur, La traduzione. Una sfida etica, a cura di D. Jervolino, Morcelliana, Brescia 2022 In addition to the bibliography, only for the students who take a 9-credit-exam: Il primo libro di filosofia teoretica (a cura di R. Fabbrichesi), Einaudi, Torino 2023

The course aims at introducing students (referring to a basic level and to an advanced level) first of all to the knowledge and understanding of some of the most important themes of Theoretical Philosophy. Then it intends showing the principal themes and authors of modern and contemporary Hermeneutics with particular reference to the philosophers of 20th century and to the questions connected to interculturality. The course aims also at offering students tools to understand in an autonomous way a text of Theoretical Philosophy (also with reference to the intercultural hermeneutics) and to express a reasoned judgment about it.

A general knowledge of the essential notions of philosophy is required.

Lectures and seminars

Not attending students must also study the following text

F. Bianco, Introduzione all’ermeneutica, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1998

The course borrows (for 6 credits) the course "Identity, difference and intercultural dialogue".

During the oral examination the knowledge of the principal aspects of a wide content and its historical context will be tested (40%); then the analytic and synthetic understanding of a more specific content with peculiar attention to the correctness of the exposition will be tested (30%); at the end the commentary of a text explained during the lectures and a critical and autonomous judgment about it will be required (30%).
The questions (at least three for a 6-credit-exam and at least five for a 9-credit-exam) will concern the three mentioned aspects and the final mark will be given with reference to the indicated percentages.
To achieve a sufficient mark, the student must show to know and understand the basic aspects of themes and authors of the programme.

First of all some of the most important concepts and themes of Theoretical Philosophy will be showed. Then the status of Hermeneutics and some of the principal lines of its historical development will be presented, analysing above all – also by means of reading and expounding texts – the perspectives of Schleiermacher, Dilthey and Heidegger. Finally, it will be illustrated, also in seminar way, how Gadamer’s, Ricoeur’s and Pareyson’s hermeneutical reflections can offer (also with reference to the questions related to intercultural dialogue).

It is expected that students can orientate themselves in an adequate way in knowing and understanding (also applied) of the proposed contents and that they learn how to use some essential critical tools to express in an autonomous and operative way a personal judgment about these contents.