Post-Graduate Education - Faculty of Humanities

This is the only Philosophy Ph.D program available at our University. The program is a comprehensive one. It aims to cover the most important branches of the subject in the historical (History of Ancient and Late Antique, Medieval, Modern and Contemporary Philosophy), and theoretical (Theoretical and Moral Philosophy, Bioethics, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Science, and Philosophy of Language) areas. It also encourages interdisciplinary relations with literary and linguistic fields of interest to philosophical research (i.e. Greek, Latin, German and French Languages and Literatures).

The Philosophy PH.D program follows three main lines of research:
1. Study and analysis of classics in the history of philosophy from Ancient to Contemporary Times;
2. Research training in the fields of history of philosophy and theoretical philosophy;
.3. Training in the preparation of critical editions, translations and commentaries of philosophical works, with special attention to works not yet available in Italian translations or critical editions.

The Philosophy PH.D program has three basic educational aims:
1. To provide advanced theoretical, historical and historiographical training in the fundamental problems in the history of ideas. In our view, the Classical philosophical tradition is of value as it stands and, furthermore, supports and enriches awareness in contemporary philosophical discussion. Philosophy is thus seen both as a form of thought and fundamental compendium of the knowledge making up the cultural identity of the Western World, essential both for rational promotion of the deepest sense of belonging to this world, and as an aid to fruitful dialogue and interaction with interlocutors from other cultural traditions. We are convinced that philosophy has always been an indispensable means of comparison, and a unifying factor, despite the diversity of cultural traditions involved. Thus further historical and historiographical investigation of the main theoretical issues links up with contemporary discussion of a possible (hopefully achievable) definition of European cultural identity.
2. To compare and foreground the memory and history of the multiple national and, even more so, transnational traditions over time: our heritage from Greek and Classical times, Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Jewish-Christian traditions, the Early Modern and Enlightenment heritage, that of the scientific revolution and contemporary thought, also in a comparative perspective with various forms of knowledge and disciplines. These range from the philosophy of mathematics to Hermeneutics, the philosophy of dialogue and communicative action to reflection on the ethics of life, and interaction between aesthetics, science, art and technology. In this way our PH.D program aims at responding to young graduates who are ever more urgently required to address the most complex and most widely discussed problems of the world around them. Moreover, since, traditionally, our Philosophy PH.D program equally addresses young junior and especially high school teachers (in connection with an upper level Philosophy Master program for Liceo (grammar school) teachers of the subject, which has been available for a number of years at our Faculty of Arts), a third aim emerges.
3. To train both in research and general studies, a group of particularly talented teachers of relevant subjects (Philosophy and History in grammar schools (Licei) and other high schools.

On the basis of these educational aims, there are basically five vocational areas covered by our PH.D program:

The specifically international character of our PH.D Program makes a decisive contribution to the realization of the above mentioned research educational aims. This is made possible by collaboration on the part of the teaching staff on the Program and other members of the Arts faculty and the program participants themselves with a number of Italian and international institutions, including:

1. Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (contacts: proff. Margherita Isnardi Parente; Aldo Brancacci).
2. Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (contact: prof. Claudio Cesa).
3. Fondazione Lorenzo Valla (contact: prof. Marta Cristiani).
4. Istituto Lessico Intellettuale Europeo e Storia del Pensiero, CNR, Roma (contact: prof. Aldo Brancacci).
5. Società Italiana di Studi Kantiani, Roma (contact: prof. Gianna Gigliotti).
6. Giornale Critico della Filosofia Italiana (contacts: proff. Aldo Brancacci; Gianna Gigliotti).
7. Elenchos. Rivista di studi sul pensiero antico (contact: prof. Aldo Brancacci).
8. Enciclopedia Filosofica di Gallarate (contacts: proff. Gianfranco Dalmasso; Pietro De Vitiis).
9. Ecole Normale Supérieure, Parigi (contact: prof. Aldo Brancacci).
10. Université de Paris-Sorbonne (contacts: proff. Jocelyn Benoist; Aldo Brancacci).
11. Centre de recherche de philosophie antique «Léon Robin», Parigi (contact: prof. Aldo Brancacci).
12. Interfakultäres Centrum für Ethik der Wissenschaften dell'Università di Tübingen (contact: dott. Anselmo Aportone).
13. Société pour l'étude de la philosophie médiévale, Louvain-la-neuve (contact: prof. Marta Cristiani).
14. Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Bonn (responsabile: Prof. Massimo Ferrari).
15. Archives Husserl di Parigi (contact: prof. Jocelyn Benoist).
16. Husserl Archiv di Lovanio (contact: prof. Gianna Gigliotti).
17. International Association for Philosophy and Literature, IAPL, USA (contact: prof. Mario Perniola).
18. Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Wissenschaftsforschung, Graz (contact: prof. Arturo Carsetti).

The rewarding and varied teaching and research activities of the Philosophy PH.D program include:
1. Inaugural Lecture, at the beginning of the academic year, given by an eminent scholar in the philosophical field;
2. Doctoral Lectures given by Italian and foreign full and associate professors;
3. Higher Classes given by research assistants and holders of PH.D qualifications;
4. Classes given by program participants from our own and other PH.D programs;
5. Seminars held by the PH.D Program teaching staff.