Ateneo - UPO

What do social entities like banknotes, political parties, genders, and human races have in common? And how can power, oppression, and injustice propagate through norms that govern social entities of this kind? The course focuses on the debate in contemporary social ontology around questions of this kind.

The texts are the same for both attending and non-attending students: 1) Burman, A (2023). Nonideal Social Ontology: The Power View. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2) Lecturer's handouts available on DIR.

The fundamental educational objective of the course is to know the main themes of contemporary social ontology, with particular attention to the theories of the nature of normativity and social power. A more advanced educational objective is to be able to argue for or against the theories that will be the subject of the course, mastering the technical details and indicating the strengths and weaknesses.

No prior knowledge of the course topics is required. The course is in English, so a good knowledge of this language is essential.

The course will be introduced by one lecture and continue with seminars dedicated to the analysis of the chapters of Burman's Book.

Students with physical disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs can request specific services and tools through Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, by consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learningdisabilities Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted Staff di Ateneo, can refer to the course coordinator to define special exam modalities.

Oral exam of a maximum duration of 30 minutes. Attending students can nevertheless replace the oral exam with an essay. The exam (oral or written) is aimed at verifying the achievement of the Educational Objectives and the Expected Learning Outcomes. The evaluation will be based for 30% on the learning of the notions covered in the course, for 30% on the autonomy of critical judgment, for 20% on the clarity of exposition and for 20% on the mastery of scientific terminology. For honours, the ability to establish original and rigorous connections between the topics of the course is required.

These are the main topics of the course. 1: Introduction to current social ontology (essential notions and theories). 2. Classical and ideal theories 3. Critique of classical and ideal theories 4. New non-ideal theories 5. Critique of new non-ideal theories 6. Telic power 7. Pluralism about social power

At the basic level, the expected learning outcomes are the following: (1. Knowledge and ability to understand) familiarity with the key notions and arguments of contemporary social ontology; (2. Applied knowledge and ability to understand) identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the theories and arguments proposed; (3. Independent judgment) development of reasoned opinions on the topics of the course; (4. Communication skills) ability to clearly illustrate the main lines of the contemporary debate; (5. Learning skills) independent exploration of the basic themes of research in contemporary social ontology. At the advanced level, the expected learning outcomes are the following: (1. Knowledge and ability to understand) knowledge and understanding of the technical details of contemporary social ontology; (2. Applied knowledge and ability to understand) ability to evaluate the effectiveness of the technical details in the analysis of the main questions posed by contemporary social ontology; (3. Independent judgment) ability to use advanced technical notions to develop reasoned opinions on the topics of the course; (4. Communication skills) ability to clearly illustrate technical details even to those who are not familiar with contemporary social ontology; (5. Learning skills) ability to independently explore some technical aspects of the contemporary debate.