Ateneo - UPO

INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK OF GIAMBATTISTA VICO

Princìpi di Scienza nuova, a cura di Andrea Battistini, Milano, Mondadori, 2023;
De nostri temporis studiorum ratione, Diogene 2014;
Vita scritta da se medesimo, Diogene, 2012 o altre edizioni (anche con il titolo Autobiografia)

Supplementary readings for non-attending students
Andrea Battistini, Vico tra antichi e moderni, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2004;
Leonardo Amoroso, Nastri vichiani, edizione ampliata, Pisa, ETS, 2018

Not attending Students are kindly requested to contact me for any doubt about the programme.

The Course intends to examine the work of Giambattista Vico with particular attention to the role played by rhetoric understood as a form of thought and expressive modality, present both in theoretical form and through the peculiar style of the New Science and of the Autobiography.

Basic knowledge of history of Italian Literature

Frontal lessons, text readings, discussions. During the course, Students who wish, singularly or in group, can present to the class one or more texts of the programme.
Dir website will be used, uploading materials that will constitute an indispensable part of the preparation of the exam by the attending Students

Pc and video projector in the classroom are required

Students can choose between written and oral forms of examination.
Both in oral and written form the exam will consist of two parts:

1) A question that focuses on the analysis, interpretation, and commentary of a passage from the New Science or from the Autobiography, with particular attention to narrative, rhetorical, and stylistic strategies.

2) Theoretical questions relating to the historical position of Vico's thought, to the fundamental concepts of his reflection, and in the light of the methodological and theoretical questions addressed during the course, concerning rhetoric understood as a form of thought and expressive modality.

The student is therefore asked to demonstrate:

KNOWLEDGE
• objectives - knowledge and understanding:
Knowledge of Giambattista Vico's work, with particular attention to its historical position, to the fundamental concepts of his reflection, and in the light of the methodological and theoretical issues addressed during the course, concerning rhetoric understood as a form of thought and expressive modality.

SKILLS
Acquisition of the tools for reading and analyzing the works of Giambattista Vico, with particular attention to the narrative, rhetorical, and stylistic strategies characteristic of the New Science and of the Autobiography.

TRANSVERSAL SKILLS
Being able to present with clarity and argumentative effectiveness, to a single o collective interlocutor, using the appropriate terminology, the results of the readings carried out.

In particular, the following weight will be given to the verification of the aforementioned achievement of the training objectives: 1. 40%; 2. 40%; 3. 20%;

N.B. The evaluation of the written exam will include grammatical correctness (spelling, morphology, syntax).

First week: Introduction to the Course. The Bildung of Giambattista Vico, his debut in the society of “Letterati”, joining Arcadia, teaching rhetoric. The Autobiography, reading, analysis, commentary.
Second week: the Inaugural Orations. The De Antiquissima italorum sapientia. Vico 'minor'. The Autobiography, reading, analysis, commentary.
Third week: The Autobiography, reading, analysis, commentary. The conspiracy of the Neapolitan princes and the life of Antonio Carafa. De nostri temporis studiorum ratione, reading, analysis, commentary.
Fourth week De nostri temporis studiorum ratione, reading, analysis, commentary Introduction to the New Science, reading, analysis, commentary.
Fifth week: The New science, reading, analysis, commentary.
Sixth week: The New science, reading, analysis, commentary.
Seventh week: The New science, reading, analysis, commentary.
Eighth week: The New science, reading, analysis, commentary De mente heroica. Conclusion of the Course.

In order to achieve the knowledge and skills corresponding to the minimum level of sufficiency, the student is asked to demonstrate:

1 KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge of Giambattista Vico's work, with particular attention to its historical position, to the fundamental concepts of his reflection, and in the light of the methodological and theoretical issues addressed during the course, concerning rhetoric understood as a form of thought and expressive modality.

2. SKILLS
Acquisition of the tools for reading and analyzing the works of Giambattista Vico, with particular attention to the narrative, rhetorical, and stylistic strategies characteristic of the New Science and of the Autobiography.

3. TRANSVERSAL SKILLS
Knowing how to present with clarity and argumentative effectiveness, using the appropriate terminology, and the results of the readings carried out. Knowing how to move in front of a text between a synthetic understanding of the whole and an analytical articulation of the details. Knowing how to evaluate work as an aesthetic object layered in its context of origin, its main structural and compositional elements, and its historical, ideological, and social vitality.

To achieve an advanced level, the student must demonstrate:
- A global and unitary understanding of the path of the course, with the acquired complementarity between theoretical-methodological skills and interpretative skills.
- The ability to autonomously re-elaborate the contents of the course and to apply the tools and knowledge acquired to texts and materials, including other ones than those in the program.
- The active and confident competence of critical and theoretical terminology combined with excellent appropriate expression