The course is organized into two main sections:

Section A - The digital world: A basic introduction. The concepts of information and digitization. Turing machine. Von Neumann machine. Computer. Networks: history, topology, protocols. Introduction to the world wide web and to mark-up languages; Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. Strong and weak AI, Turing test, connectionism, neural networks. Internet as global medium and features of online communication.

Section B - Introduction to digital humanities: the definition of DH; forms of digital textuality; Introduction to textual encoding; Basic notions of Digital publishing; Digital tools for school and learning.

Section A is propedeutic to section B.

Modulo A: - Fabio Ciotti e Gino Roncaglia, Il mondo digitale, cap. I-IX, Laterza 2000 (16a ristampa, 2021)

Modulo B: - Fabio Ciriaci, Informatica per le scienze umane, McGraw Hill Italia 2012 (disponibile in formato digitale sugli store on-line)
- Gino Roncaglia, L'età della frammentazione, Laterza 2020 (second, augmented edition)

I non frequentanti e i frequentanti che non avessero superato la prova scritta integreranno questi testi con
- Franco Moretti, La letteratura vista da lontano, Einaudi 2005

Andrea Zanzotto, beyond the lanscape

a) Andrea Zanzotto, Tutte le poesie, edited by Stefano Dal Bianco, Milano, «Oscar» Mondadori, 2011

b) Andrea Cortellessa, Andrea Zanzotto. Il canto nella terra, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2021

c) to give a context in 20th century italian literary history:
Giulio Ferroni, Storia della letteratura italiana, vol. IV: Il Novecento e il nuovo millennio, Milano, Mondadori Università, 2012

The course aims to explore the history and present of journalistic photography, its role as a 'window on the world' in modern visual culture and in the formation of what can be considered a 'global consciousness'.

The work of the main personalities who have marked the history of photojournalism will be retraced, as well as the relationship between myth and reality of the profession, between the aspiration to objectivity and the compromises of the editorial chain, between denunciation and censorship, from its origins to the present day. From the golden age of magazines to war photography. The current crisis of the profession. The new challenges of information through images to the aestheticisation and decontextualisation of journalistic photography in the digital age.

Elements of knowledge will be provided on the themes of digital manipulation, debunking of 'hoaxes' in the age of fakenews, political storytelling and post-truth, with an emphasis on the ethics of photography, the main codes of ethics, the legal rules for the use of images and copyright.

The workshop will make students measure themselves directly with the analysis of the snapshots of the major photojournalists and the most significant magazines, enabling them to read them also in relation to the period, the economy, the figurative art and the history of the mentality of the societies in which they were taken, so as to contribute to consolidating their overall knowledge of the modern and contemporary age.

Dondero, Mario with Giordana, Emanuele. Lo scatto umano. Viaggio nel fotogiornalismo da Budapest a New York. Bari: Laterza, 2017

Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. New York: Picador, 2004

Gunthert, André. L’image partagée. La photographie numérique. Paris: Textuel, 2015 (provided to students in pdf)

Pastoureau, Michel. Dizionario dei colori del nostro tempo. Milan: Ponte alle Grazie, 2018

Lucas, Uliano and Agliani, Tatiana. La realtà e lo sguardo. Storia del fotogiornalismo in Italia. Turin: Einaudi, 2016

Capa, Robert. Slightly Out of Focus. New York: Modern Library, 2001

Alabiso, Vincent, Chuck Zoeller and Kelly Smith Tunney, eds. Flash! The Associated Press Covers the World. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998. (preface by Peter Arnett will be provided to students in pdf)

The course deals with a critical analysis of gender representations in the media. The first part gives an overview on the concept of gender and the role of media in the social construction of male and female identities. The course aims to provide students with the methodological tools to analyse communication practices in various media (whether digital or not) from a gendered perspective. The second part is dedicated to lab activities. The research lab includes working in groups and will involve students in the design of research paths on specific topics.

D. Richardson (2015), Conceptualising Gender, in V. Robinson & D. Richardson (eds), Gender and Women’s Studies, Palgrave, pp. 3-22
A. L. Tota (2008), Gender e media. Verso un immaginario sostenibile, Meltemi, Milano (Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10)
S. Capecchi (2014), Methodological problems in gender and media research, Qual Quant, 48, pp. 837–844

The course is divided into three parts. The first part will be dedicated to the acquisition of a practical guide to the use of Italian (vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, syntax, style, basic editorial rules), necessary to build a clear and precise text. The second part will be dedicated to the analysis of some written texts belonging to different types (descriptive, argumentative, narrative), evaluating their internal techniques, style and effectiveness - in dialogue with Elena Ferrante's creative and metalinguistic laboratory. Finally, by learning the elements necessary to build one's own «diffracted authorship», the third part will be dedicated to practical exercises on topics related to the ecological and climatic crisis, with the aim of improving the communication and writing skills of each student.

E. Ferrante, La frantumaglia. Nuova edizione ampliata, Edizioni e/o, Roma 2016, pp. 93-160, 181-186, 231-234, 249-280.
E. Ferrante, L’invenzione occasionale, Edizioni e/o, Roma 2019, pp. 5-6, 17-22, 31-32, 39-42, 55-56, 59-64, 75-76, 81-84, 87-92, 97-102, 105-110.
V. Gheno, Guida pratica all’italiano scritto, Franco Ceseati Editore, Firenze 2016.
I. Pinto, Elena Ferrante. Poetiche e politiche della soggettività, Mimesis, Milano 2020.

Other teaching materials will be provided during the lessons.

See under "Texts adopted"

• E. Menduni, Video story. Italy and TV 1975-2015, Bompiani 2018
• A. Pinotti, A. Somanini Visual culture. Images, looks, media, devices, Bompiani 2016
• A. Bisogno, The intrusive TV. The reality show of pain from Vermicino to Avetrana, Carocci 2015


A book to choose from:
• A. Bisogno, The story on TV. Image and collective memory, Carocci 2015
• G. Celata, A. Marinelli Connecting television. Television in the time of the internet, Guerini e Associati 2012

The laboratory aims to provide students with the tools to organize and write a dissertation and become familiar and practical with academic and non-fiction writing.
By style and method, the course aims to provide students with the basic tools through ongoing practical exercises.
At the end of the course, students will be able to master the elements that allow you to organize and write a thesis.

Reference bibliography and material will be provided during the course.

The course is divided into three main parts. In the first part, the metaphor of the mirror will be analyzed from a historical-philosophical vantage point. In the second part, the use of the metaphor of the mirror in the aesthetic debate will be explored, through the analysis of some orientations of the philosophy of art. In the final phase, the course will deal with the link between the metaphor of the mirror, social appearance, and different forms of mediality.

Sabine Melchior-Bonnet, Storia dello specchio, trad. di Maria Chiara Giovannini, Dedalo, Bari 2002, pp. 7-18 e 121-325.
Barbara Carnevali, Le apparenze sociali. Una filosofia del prestigio, Il Mulino, Bologna 2012.

Additionally, students have to read one text from the following:

C. Cappelletto, Neuroestetica. L’arte del cervello, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2009, chapters 1, 3, and 6.
U. Eco, Sugli specchi e altri saggi. Il segno, la rappresentazione, l’illusione e l’immagine, La Nave di Teseo, Milano 2018 (exclusively the essay "Sugli specchi").
F. Lammoglia, S. Pastorino, Black Mirror. Narrazioni filosofiche, Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2019 (chapters "Riflessioni allo specchio", "Transumanesimo: la fede del post-umano", "Più social e meno società", "Attraverso lo specchio").
G. Lukács, Arte e società, Vol. 1, (exclusively "Prefazione" and "Arte e verità oggettiva").
F. Scianna, Lo specchio vuoto. Fotografia, identità e memoria, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2017.

Functions and elements of the languages

Steps of the linguistic studies

Sociolinguistics and mass media: journalese yes/no/maybe

De Mauro T. Guida all'uso delle parole, 2019
Graffi G Breve storia della linguistica.2019
Catricalà Maria Linguistica e giornalismo , 2015

This is an introductive course to the study of the role of language in communication, and to the persuasion strategies, that can help to uphold and confirm one’s own opinion. The course is composed of two parts. The first module involves the analysis of the linguistic units in order to better understand how language works in communication. In the second part, the major landmarks in the development of the debate between dialectics and rhetoric will be mentioned, and the basic elements of argumentation theory as well as the most relevant figures of speech will be analyzed. In addition to theoretical notions, practice exercises will coach students to recognize persuasion strategies in the texts, with special regard to the advertising and journalistic ones.

1st part
- Fiorentino, Giuliana, La lingua nella comunicazione. Corso di linguistica generale, Le Monnier Università, Milano-Firenze, 2020 (capp. 1-2, 5-9).

2nd part
- Mortara Garavelli, Bice, Il parlar figurato. Manualetto di figure retoriche, Laterza, Bari-Roma, 2011.
- Lo Cascio, Enzo, Persuadere e convincere oggi. Nuovo manuale dell'argomentazione, Academia, Milano, 2009 (capp. 1-5, 7, 11-12; del cap. 12 solo §§ 12.1, 12.6-12.7).

This is an introductive course to the study of the role of language in communication, and to the persuasion strategies, that can help to uphold and confirm one’s own opinion. The course is composed of two parts. The first module involves the analysis of the linguistic units in order to better understand how language works in communication. In the second part, the major landmarks in the development of the debate between dialectics and rhetoric will be mentioned, and the basic elements of argumentation theory as well as the most relevant figures of speech will be analyzed. In addition to theoretical notions, practice exercises will coach students to recognize persuasion strategies in the texts, with special regard to the advertising and journalistic ones.

1st part
- Fiorentino, Giuliana, La lingua nella comunicazione. Corso di linguistica generale, Le Monnier Università, Milano-Firenze, 2020 (chapters 1-2, 5-9).

2nd part
- Mortara Garavelli, Bice, Il parlar figurato. Manualetto di figure retoriche, Laterza, Bari-Roma, 2011.
- Lo Cascio, Enzo, Persuadere e convincere oggi. Nuovo manuale dell'argomentazione, Academia, Milano, 2009 (chapters 1-5, 7, 11-12; from chapter 12 only §§ 12.1, 12.6-12.7).

The course introduces the relationship between language and politics and the different dimensions of this relationship.
The course will develop with a focus on on the different forms of the political space, in history and in contemporary times.

Dispense (nuova versione 2021)
F. Giardini, L'alleanza inquieta (pdf disponibile on line)
H. Lefebvre, Spazio e politica. Diritto alla città II, ombre corte 2020
F. Castelli, Spazio pubblico (cap. 1; cap. 3, §1; cap. IV, §§ 2-5 disponibili on line)
F. Giardini, Città stellari, in La Libertà è una Passeggiata. Donne e spazi urbani tra violenza strutturale e autodeterminazione, a c. di C. Belingardi, F. Castelli, S. Olcuire, IAPh Italia, Roma 2019, pp. 55-60 (pdf disponibile on line)

The main lines of Italy’s history (1861-1994). The module aims to tackle, with a reading of the long run, the most important issues in the history of Italy from the Unification to the crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s. Attention will be devoted to the features of the Italian political system and the different forms of political communication.

Aurelio Lepre e Claudia Petraccone, Storia d'Italia dall'Unità a oggi, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008.
Giovanni Gozzini, La mutazione individualista. Gli italiani e la televisione 1954-2011, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2011.

The course will be divided into two parts.

Part will deal with the following topics:
- basic notions of morphology (derivational and inflectional morphemes, main processes of word formation);
- basic notions on the structure and the semantics of the lexicon (word classes and their main properties, word formats and collocations, word meaning, types of meaning and meaning relations among words, componential analysis);
- text analysis (cohesion, types of connectives, relations among clauses);

Part II will deal with the following topics:
- basic notions of syntax (types of phrases, grammatical functions and the valence of the verb);
- basic notions of sentence semantics and of pragmatics (definition of, and distinction between, semantics and pragmatics, linguistic and situational context, information structure, linguistics acts, presuppositions and implicatures).

Part I:
1) Gaetano Berruto and Massimo Cerruti, La linguistica. Un corso introduttivo, UTET (only chapter 3).
2) Federica Casadei, Lessico e semantica, Carocci (chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6).
3) Raffaele Simone, Nuovi fondamenti di Linguistica, McGraw-Hill (chapters 12 and 13).

Part II:
4) Mereu Lunella, La sintassi delle lingue del mondo, Laterza (only chapter 2 from section 1 to 5d and from chapter 3 only section 5).
5) Mereu Lunella, La semantica della frase, Carocci (chapter 6 excluded).
6) Andorno Cecilia, Che cos’è la pragmatica, Carocci editore (up to chapter 6 included).

The course will be divided into two parts.

Part will deal with the following topics:
- basic notions of morphology (derivational and inflectional morphemes, main processes of word formation);
- basic notions on the structure and the semantics of the lexicon (word classes and their main properties, word formats and collocations, word meaning, types of meaning and meaning relations among words, componential analysis);
- text analysis (cohesion, types of connectives, relations among clauses);

Part II will deal with the following topics:
- basic notions of syntax (types of phrases, grammatical functions and the valence of the verb);
- basic notions of sentence semantics and of pragmatics (definition of, and distinction between, semantics and pragmatics, linguistic and situational context, information structure, linguistics acts, presuppositions and implicatures).

Part I:
1) Gaetano Berruto e Massimo Cerruti, La linguistica. Un corso introduttivo, UTET (only chapter 3).
2) Federica Casadei, Lessico e semantica, Carocci (chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6).
3) Raffaele Simone, Nuovi fondamenti di Linguistica, McGraw-Hill (from chapter 12 to 13).

Part II:
4) Mereu Lunella, La sintassi delle lingue del mondo, Laterza (only chapter 2 (from paragraph 1 to 5d) and chapter 3 (only paragraph 5)).
5) Mereu Lunella, La semantica della frase, Carocci (with the exclusion of chapter 6).
6) Andorno Cecilia, Che cos’è la pragmatica, Carocci editore (chapters 1-6).

The course aims first of all to provide an overview of the main aesthetic categories - from beautiful to ugly, from interesting to Kitsch, from sublime to horror and terror - in order to assess their relevance in contemporary artistic practices. In addition, the concept of the classical and of beauty in the West and in the East will be explored, with particular attention to Japanese aesthetics and literature.

The following texts are mandatory:

F. Iannelli: Dissonanze contemporanee. Arte e vita in un tempo inconciliato. Quodlibet 2010 (fino p. 206)
S. Settis. Il futuro del classico, EINAUDI, Torino, 2004.
D. Richie, Sull’estetica giapponese, Lindau, Torino 2009.
Y. Kawabata, Esistenza e scoperta della bellezza, pp. 57-76 in "La danzatrice di Izu", Adelphi, Milano 2017

The Shoah between testimony and narration
(secondo semestre)

Note: It is not possible to take Literature and Visual Arts II without having taken Literature and Visual Arts I.

V. Pisanty, I guardiani della memoria e il ritorno delle destre xenofobe, Bompiani, Milano 2020.
P. Levi, I sommersi e i salvati, Einaudi, Torino 2007.
I. Kertész, Essere senza destino, Feltrinelli, Milano 2014.

Film
S. Spielberg, Schindler’s List (1993).
E. Finkiel, La douleur (2017).

Note: it is advisable to take the Literature and Visual Arts I and Literature and Visual Arts II exams in a single test. In this case the examination materials for the Literature and Visual Arts II module include only:

V.Pisanty, I guardiani della memoria e il ritorno delle destre xenofobe, Bompiani, Milano 2020
P. Levi, I sommersi e i salvati, Einaudi, Torino 2007.

The Shoah between testimony and narration
(Second Semester)

Note: It is not possible to take Literature and Visual Arts II without having taken Literature and Visual Arts I.

V. Pisanty, I guardiani della memoria e il ritorno delle destre xenofobe, Bompiani, Milano 2020
P. Levi, I sommersi e i salvati, Einaudi, Torino 2007.
I. Kertész, Essere senza destino, Feltrinelli, Milano 2014.

Film
S. Spielberg, Schindler’s List (1993).
E. Finkiel, La douleur (2017).

Note: It is advisable to take the Literature and Visual Arts I and Literature and Visual Arts II exams in a single test. In this case the examination materials for the Literature and Visual Arts II module include only:

V. Pisanty, I guardiani della memoria e il ritorno delle destre xenofobe, Bompiani, Milano 2020
P. Levi, I sommersi e i salvati, Einaudi, Torino 2007.

This course will provide an introduction to cognitive science by exploring some topics of research in this multidisciplinary field. Cognitive science is the study of cognition as information processing by complex organisms or artificial systems; thus it is not a discipline, but rather a “doctrine” that has oriented and is orienting inquiries in a number of disciplines — some descriptive and empirical (e.g., cognitive psychology, linguistics and, more recently, neuroscience), some speculative and foundational (e.g., philosophy of mind), and some both speculative and applied (e.g., artificial intelligence and robotics).

J.L. Bermúdez, Cognitive Science: An Introduction to the Science of the Mind, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2020.
S. Dehaene, Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts, Viking Press, New York 2014.

The course develops methodological skills in order to undertake research in the field of communication studies. The first part of the course will examine the methodological framework for the study of culture and communication. The main stages and strategies of the field research, with particular emphasis on the ethnographic method, will be explored during the second part.

W. Griswold, Un framework metodologico per lo studio della cultura, in M. Santoro, R. Sassatellin(a cura di), Studiare la cultura. Nuove prospettive sociologiche, Il Mulino, Bologna 2009, pp. 253-285
G. Gobo, Descrivere il mondo. Teoria e pratica del metodo etnografico in sociologia, Carocci, Roma 2001

The course of ethics and cognitive sciences aims to present and discuss some basic ethical notions, focusing on the contemporary debate and on the relationship between moral philosophy and the cognitive sciences. The course includes two parts. In the first part, we will discuss some key notions in the interdisciplinary ethical debate at the interplay between moral philosophy and the cognitive sciences. Among the themes that will be discussed: free will and moral responsibility, neurolaw, the role of emotions and reasons in moral judgments, social cooperation. In the second part, we will focus on the role of unconscious psychological mechanisms in driving human behaviours.

FOR STUDENTS WHO ATTEND THE COURSE, THE PROGRAM INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING TEXTS:
1 – M. De Caro, M. Marraffa (2016). Mente e morale. Una piccola introduzione, Luiss University Press
2 – J. Bargh (2018). A tua insaputa. La mente inconscia che guida le nostre azioni, Bollati Boringhieri

FOR STUDENTS WHO DO NOT ATTEND THE COURSE, THE PROGRAM INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING TEXTS:
1 – M. De Caro, M. Marraffa (2016). Mente e morale. Una piccola introduzione, Luiss University Press
2 – J. Bargh (2018). A tua insaputa. La mente inconscia che guida le nostre azioni, Bollati Boringhieri
3 - D. Kahneman (2013). Pensieri lenti e veloci, Mondadori

The exact schedule of the Musical Language Wokshop will be communicated on the website of Communication Sciences

The teaching material, composed of abstracts and lecture notes related to the introductory lessons that will take place, will be announced during the course of the Workshop

The course outlines the formation and the development of the main capitalistic economies both in Europe and out of Europe between 19th and 20th centuries.

I. The first and second industrial revolution
- The preconditions for capitalist development in modern Eastern Atlantic, Centuries 17-18th.
- Expanded commercial agricultural revolution and industrial revolution in Britain in the eighteenth century.
- The process of capitalist concentration in the nineteenth century and the second industrial revolution.
II. Economic development in the 20th century
- Industry, trade networks, financial markets on the eve of the First World War.
- The economic cycles in the post-war period
- The crisis of 1929 and national policies in the '30s.

Attending students:

G. Feliu, C. Sudrià, Introduzione alla storia economica mondiale, Padova, CADEM, 2013, capp. 1 – 11.
G. Conte, Il credito di una nazione. Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2021.

plus a further book:

F. Braudel, Espansione europea e capitalismo. 1450-1650, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015.
L. Conte, V. Torreggiani, Istituzioni, capitali e moneta. Storia dei sistemi finanziari contemporanei, Milano, Mondadori, 2017, Introduzione + capp. 1-3.

Non-attending students (add to above-mentioned books):

M. Fornasari, La banca, la borsa, lo Stato. Una storia della finanza (secc. XIII-XXI), Torino, Giappichelli, 2017, pp. 1-154.

Feminist keywords. For a political and theoretical genealogy and an update of the latest advances in feminism, gender and difference.
II semester (end of february 2021), on Fridays, 3-5.30 p.m.

4 marzo
1. Federica Giardini introduce Colette Guillaumin
Testo di riferimento: Sesso, razza, pratica del potere. L’idea di Natura, Ombrecorte 2020
2. Federica Castelli introduce Nicole Loraux
Testo di riferimento: Il femminile e l’uomo greco, Laterza, 1991

11 marzo
1. Serena Fiorletta introduce Elsie Clews Parsons
Testo di riferimento: dispense fornite dalla docente
2. Alessandra Chiricosta introduce le Kung fu Nuns, monache dell’ordine Drukpa Kagyu, del monastero della montagna Druk Amitabha, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Testo di riferimento: dispense fornite dalla docente

18 marzo
1. Ingrid Colanicchia e Roberta Paoletti introducono Olympe de Gouges
Testo di riferimento: Dichiarazione dei diritti della donna e della cittadina
2. Ilaria Boiano introduce Carole Pateman
Testo di Riferimento: Il Contratto sessuale. I fondamenti nascosti della società moderna, Moretti e Vitali, 2015

25 marzo
1. Ilenia Caleo introduce Monique Wittig
Testo: dispense fornite dalla docente
2. Angela Balzano introduce Donna Haraway
Testo di riferimento: dispense fornite dalla docente
3. Lavinia Marziale introduce Alexandra Elbakyan
Testo di Riferimento: dispense fornite dalla docente

1 aprile
1. Francesca Lopez introduce Julia Kristeva
Testo di Riferimento: dispense fornite dalla docente
2. Isabella Pinto introduce Christa Wolf
Testo di riferimento: Guasto: notizie di un giorno (1987), edizione e/o, Roma (qualsiasi anno di
pubblicazione)

A selection of readings related to each lecture will be given at the beginning of the course

The seminar addresses issues related to the territory and the city. The story of cardinal concepts such as cities, communities, habitats, nature, territory, landscapes, and projects will be presented, discussed and updated, from different perspectives: philosophy, art, political theory, sociology, history, geography, architecture, law, economics, political ecology, communication.

A selection of readings will be suggested. Eventually students will have to write and present a short paper.

The seminar addresses issues related to the territory and the city. The story of cardinal concepts such as cities, communities, habitats, nature, territory, landscapes, and projects will be presented, discussed and updated, from different perspectives: philosophy, art, political theory, sociology, history, geography, architecture, law, economics, political ecology, communication.

Different readings will be suggested.

The seminar addresses issues related to the territory and the city. The story of cardinal concepts such as cities, communities, habitats, nature, territory, landscapes, and projects will be presented, discussed and updated, from different perspectives: philosophy, art, political theory, sociology, history, geography, architecture, law, economics, political ecology, communication.

Different texts will be suggested; Eventually students have to write a short paper or make a short speech.

The course aims to provide conceptual and historical tools around the philosophy of action, privileging the analysis of the relationship between free will, determinism, intentionality, daily life and habits of action. The first module is aimed at providing both a synthetic framework of theories on free will in correlation with contemporary debate. The second module will focus on the specificity of the habitual actions, on which only recently philosophy, also of analytical area, has resumed to deal, in a close dialogue with psychology, sociology and neuroscience. For this purpose, some doctrines will be examined that provide key elements for reflection on the relationship between action, freedom and habits, including Aristotelian and Pragmatist. With respect to the latter, space will be given to the treatment made by William James on the relationship between habits and conduct of action, linking it with the current developments in the philosophy of action.

Unit 1:
M. De Caro, “Azione e libero arbitrio”, in Id., Azione, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008, pp. 37-67.
2. M. De Caro, “Azione e intenzionalità”, in Id., Azione, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008, pp. 111-134.
3. D.M. Wegner, “L’illusione della volontà cosciente”, in M. De Caro, A. Lavazza, G. Sartori (eds.), Siamo davvero liberi? Le neuroscienze e il mistero del libero arbitrio, Turin, Codice, 2010, pp. 21-49 (essay included in the next updated and integrated edition of 2019).

Unit 2:
4. M. Piazza, “Credenze, disposizioni, effetti e regimi”, in Id., Creature dell’abitudine. Abito, costume, seconda natura da Aristotele alle scienze cognitive, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2018, pp. 131-165 (§§ 1-5).
5. W. James, Le leggi dell’abitudine, ed. D. Vincenti, Milan, Mimesis, 2019 (67 pp.).
6. B. Pollard, “Habitual Actions”, in T. O’Connor, C. Sandis (ed. by), A Companion to the Philosophy of Action, Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 74-81 (an Italian translation will be provided by the teacher for educational purposes).

Within a unifying evolutionary theoretical framework, the course deals with the leading topics related to the cognitive and neural underpinnings of important human faculties, providing an up-to-date overview on the state of the art and the mainlines of investigation. The course begins with an overview of ideas leading to evolutionary theory, its developments and the related key notions and mechanisms of evolution, also clearing misunderstandings related to this theory. The second part of the course will focus on the application of the evolutionary theory to psychology, through the analysis of the scientific developments of evolutionary psychology and the explanations provided to account for the development and functioning of relevant human faculties.
Overall, to explore the main adaptive functions of our minds and behavior, the course will be organized into the following contents:

- What evolution is (and isn’t)
- Key concepts of evolutionary theory (e.g., adaptation, variation, natural selection, sexual selection)
- Evolutionary steps of the origin of modern humans
- Evolutionary psychology: principles, methods of investigation, applications
- Modularity, learning and culture
- Evolutionary accounts of cooperation, conflict, emotions, language, mental illness

Pievani T. (2006). La teoria dell’evoluzione. Attualità di una rivoluzione scientifica. Il Mulino, Bologna.

Bruni D. (2017). Psicologia evoluzionistica. Dal cervello del Pleistocene alla mente moderna. Carocci editore, Roma.

THE 2030 UNITED NATIONS AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE TERRITORY
See the Agenda at: https://unric.org/it/agenda-2030/


The course is divided into two parts:
• 12-15 conferences on Agenda 2030 and an e-learning podcast by ASviS (Alleanza Italiana per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile)
see the ongioing programme - https://www.uniroma3.it/articoli/roma-tre-per-lo-sviluppo-sostenibile-un-corso-multidisciplinare-sullagenda-2030-anno-accademico-2021-2022-182054/

• a specific part, carried out under the supervision of the teacher, to deepen particular topics or objectives of the Agenda through selected readings and the development of a written paper

FOR ORGANIZATIONAL REASONS, YOU ARE REQUESTED TO REPORT THE INTEREST FOR THE COURSE (federica.giardini@uniroma3.it)

E-learning teaching module prepared by ASviS (Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development) https://asvis.it/
Selected bibliography agreed with the teacher

This course provides an introduction to:
(1) the role played by reasoning in rational interaction (discussions, exchanges of theses), in the solution of problems of logic and mathematics, and the consequence of a lack of adequate reasoning procedures in these areas;
(2) ratioanl argomentation and the logical structure underlying valid arguments;
(3) a rigorous approach to deductive reasoning, based on the formal tools provided by propositional and quantified (deductive) logic;
(4) some forms of non-deductive reasoning
The course also wishes to alert participants of the consequences of a lack of a rational course in the context of mass communication, information society, and online interaction, while developing the ability to correctly apply the basic rules of reasoning that are distinctive of deductive reasoning.

The course will apply, as far as possible, a `bottom-up' approach: from reasoning problems, to the tools required to solve them, to the theories in which such tools are defined, understood, and discussed. The course is divided into two modules:

Module A: It will approach and discuss the definition of an argument and of a good argument, the role played by arguments in our reactions to disagreement and in rational discussions, and the rational strategies for reacting to disagreement. It will then focus on deductive reasoning and on propositional logic in particular. In this context the course will introduce and discuss the basic rules of reasoning of propositional logic and it will discuss the notion of derivability, introduce the procedures for building a formal language, it will explore the semantics of propositional logic, the notions of logical consequence and validity, and the possible connections between derivability, logical consequence, and validity. In addition, the module will introduce the notion of a system of rules and that of an axiomatics system, together with the notions of soundness and completeness, and it will then focus on natural deduction and its soundness and completeness with respect to the semantics of classical propositional logic.

Module B: It will present basic facts, notions, and definitions of set theory, which are indispensible when it comes to an understanding of quantified logic. After that, the course will focus on quantified logic, by explaining the way in which quantified logic 'reads' predicates and quantifiers (expressions like 'Every' and 'Some'), it will introduce basic rules for reasoning with the quantifiers, and it will introduce the semantics of quantified logic. The course will then discuss soundness and completeness of natural deduction for quantified classical logic with resepct to the semantics of quantified classical logic. Russell paradox will also be introduced and discussed. The module will later with a brief overview of some forms of non-deductive reasoning (probabilistic reasoning, statistical reasoning, reasoning with explanatory hypotheses).

The achievement of 12 CFU requires presenting the program of both modules; achievement of 6 CFU requires presenting the program of one of the two modules only.

Main text:
Critical Thinking. Un’introduzione, a cura di D. Canale, R. Ciuni, A. Frigerio, G. Tuzet, Egea, Milano 2021
(Relativi al Modulo A: Capitoli 2 – 6. Relativi al Modulo B: Capitoli 7 – 10).

Parte istituzionale sulla storia generale delle scienze della mente:
I) Storia della scienza e storia della psicologia 1. Perché studiare la storia delle scienze della mente 2. Storiografia della scienza: continuismo e rivoluzioni scientifiche 3. Scienza normale e paradigmi 4. Storiografia della psicologia e delle neuroscienze
II) Il lungo passato filosofico 1. I primi problemi psicologici 2. La psicologia del pensiero classico 3. La psicologia dal pensiero classico al cristianesimo 4. Dagli arabi al Rinascimento 5. Il cambiamento della concezione dell’uomo con Umanesimo e Rinascimento 6. Cartesio 7. Razionalismo ed empirismo 8. Da Cartesio agli «idéologues» 9. L’interdizione kantiana
III) La nascita della psicologia sperimentale: da Helmholtz a Wundt 1. La nascita della psicologia sperimentale 2. Helmholtz: energia nervosa specifica e inferenza inconscia 3. L’innatismo fenomenologico di Ewald Hering 4. Wilhelm Wundt e la psicologia fisiologica 5. Titchener e lo strutturalismo nord-americano
IV) La reazione a Wundt in Europa e in America 1. Brentano e i brentaniani 5. Il funzionalismo americano, tra evoluzionismo e pragmatismo
V) La psicologia della Gestalt 1. Gli inizi 2. Le leggi della Gestalt 3. L’isomorfismo 4. Il modello di campo 5. Ascesa e diaspora
VI) La prospettiva psicodinamica e la psicoanalisi 1. Introduzione 2. Dalla concezione organicistica alla concezione psicodinamica della malattia mentale 3. La teoria di Janet 4. La psicoanalisi da Freud agli anni ’50 5. La teoria di Jung 6. La teoria di Adler 7. Temi della psicoanalisi del secondo Novecento e nuove tematiche 8. La psichiatria fenomenologica 9. Teorie della personalità 10. Modelli integrati tra salute e patologia della mente
VII) La prospettiva comportamentista I. Introduzione 2. La psicologia americana agli inizi del secolo: strutturalismo e funzionalismo 3. Il comportamentismo da Watson agli anni ’50 4. Skinner e l’utopia comportamentista 5. L’operazionismo in psicologia 6. Personalità, psicopatologia e apprendimento sociale nella prospettiva comportamentista
VIII) La prospettiva cognitivista 1. Introduzione 2. Lo studio dei processi cognitivi: dalla scuola di Würzburg a Bartlett 3. Le teorie dell’intelligenza 4. Le teorie dello sviluppo psichico 5. La teoria di Piaget 6. Le teorie probabilistiche ed ecologiche dei processi mentali 7. Il cognitivismo 8. La scienza cognitiva
IX) La prospettiva storico-culturale 1. Introduzione 3. La teoria storico-culturale della mente da Vygotskij agli anni ’60 4. La teoria dell’attività 5. Il costruzionismo sociale. La psicologia culturale
X) La prospettiva biologica e neuroscientifica 1. Introduzione 2. La psicologia animale e comparata. L’etologia 3. Le ricerche sulle funzioni cerebrali agli inizi del Novecento 4. La riflessologia di Bechterev 5. La teoria dell’attività nervosa superiore di Pavlov 6. Teorie olistiche del funzionamento della mente e del cervello nel primo Novecento 7. Il neuroconnessionismo di Hebb 8. Ricerche sulle funzioni cerebrali e il comportamento: 1950-70 9. La teoria dei sistemi funzionali cerebrali di Lurija 10. Neuroscienze cognitive, affettive e sociali.
XI) Il dibattito contemporaneo 1. Crisi delle teorie o crisi della psicologia 2. La verifica empirica in psicologia 3. Psicologia del senso comune e psicologie alternative 4. Il primato delle neuroscienze 5. Il disagio della psicoterapia 6. La psicologia e la società contemporanea.

Parte Monografica
Il corpo delle passioni. Storia delle ricerche sul rapporto tra corpo/cervello ed emozioni dalla filosofia naturale e dalle filosofie orientali alle neuroscienze contemporanee

• Il problema delle emozioni? Che cos’è un’emozione?
• Filosofia delle emozioni

• Concezioni materialistiche delle emozioni nel pensiero presocratico
• Platone, Aristotele e le emozioni Passioni, emozioni e corpo nelle filosofie ellenistiche (epicureismo, stoicismo, scetticismo)

• Corpo ed emozioni dal medioevo al Rinascimento
• Cartesio: le passioni dell’anima, corpo e meccanicismo

• Teorie delle passioni, del corpo e della ragione nel Settecento:
• Hobbes, Spinoza, Pascal

• Le emozioni e il corpo nel materialismo francese tra ‘700 e ‘800
• Psicologia, filosofia ed etica degli stati affettivi nell’empirismo e nell’associazionismo britannico
• John Locke, David Hartley, Adam Smith, David Hume
• Thomas Brown: movimento, emozione e conoscenza
• Associazione, emozione e movimento in James Mill
• Associazioni, chimica mentale, utilitarismo ed emozioni

• Dal fissismo all’evoluzionismo
• Lamarck e Spencer emozioni come motore dell’evoluzione
• Evoluzione, emozioni e conoscenza. Spencer e l’ipotesi dell’epistemologia evoluzionistica
• L’evoluzionismo di Darwin
• L’espressione delle emozioni e le emozioni come strumenti adattativi


• L’alba della neurofisiologia delle emozioni e dell’espressione delle emozioni
• Thomas Brown, Bell, Magendie, Flourens, Marshall Hall, Alexander Bain

• Psicofisiologia e teorie somatiche e periferiche delle emozioni
• La teoria James-lange
• La teoria di Giuseppe Sergi

• Emozioni, evoluzione e conoscenza. Il pragmatismo di John Dewey

• Neuroscienze e localizzazione cerebrale delle emozioni
• Cenni teorico-critici sul localizzazionismo (frenologia, neofrenologia Uttall…)
• Mosso, Cannon, Hess, bard, Olds Milner, Delgado, il caso di Phineas Gage
• Kluwer Bucy, Weiskrantz e l’amigdala
• Emozioni laterali
• Emozioni frontali.. tra Leonardo Bianchi, Moniz, Bechara e Damasio
• Localizzare le emozioni appunti critici… nuova frenologia?...

• Ritorno all’integrazione evoluzionistica Papez, MacLean, Pribram e l’abbozzo dell’idea del marcatore somatico, Plutchik, Damasio
• Ritorno alle espressioni delle emozioni, l’evoluzionismo di Ekman

• La nascita della neurofarmacologia delle emozioni
• La scoperta dei neurotrasmettitori
• I neurotrasmettitori del cervello emotivo
• Neuropeptidi ed emozioni

• Emozioni, fisiologia, e malattia: la naturalizzazione della psicosomatica
• Emozioni disturbanti e cervello. L’avvento ed evoluzione della psichiatria biologica della depressione, dell’ansia e delle dipendenze
• Psicofarmacologia delle emozioni patologiche

per la parte istituzionale
Luccio R. (2013). Storia della psicologia: un’introduzione. Roma- Bari: Laterza (capitoli: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5 paragrafi 5.1 e 5.5; 6).
Mecacci L. (2011). Storia della psicologia del Novecento. Roma- Bari: Laterza (capitoli: 3; 4; 5; 6 paragrafi 1,3,4,5; 7; 8).

per la parte monografica:
dispense del docente e monografia in corso di stampa "Il corpo delle passioni", sulla storia delle ricerche sul rapporto tra corpo/cervello ed emozioni dalla filosofia naturale e dalla filosofie orientali alle neuroscienze contemporanee. Con un aggiornamento su questa pagina verrà comunicata l'effettiva pubblicazione del volume.