Ethics for the complex society

Full Professor of Moral Philosophy (M-FIL/03), Department of Literature and Philosophy, University of Florence.

The course in “Education, anthropology and ethics” will be divided into two modules with the following contents:

• Module 1: ‘Global thinking and a new philosophical anthropology’, causes and effects of the accelerating ethical processes of the modern era.
• Module 2: The need for a renewal of ethical thinking and the role of education in a complex society.

A study of ethics as complex phenomena: relationship between ethics and contemporary society. In this course will be analyzed the definition and contextual meaning of social ethics.

In the current globalization period it is required to reconsider and to develop critical thinking, engaging students in ethical reasoning through different levels.

A specific focus on main concept of Anthropological Philosophy will

lead to study authors such as E. Morin and to analyse the concept of education as a construction of correspondences.

The course analyses the concept of education as the construction of correspondences with others and the different spheres of articulation of an existence increasingly marked by the processes of overall social acceleration, addressing the problem of continuous anthropological and ethical metamorphoses in a complex society.

A. Knowledge and understanding of the relationship between ethics and society.

B. Knowledge and understanding applied to training dynamics.

C. Autonomy of judgement in educational contexts.

D. Educational communication skills.

E. Learning and reasoning skills related to the set of technical and moral rules applied in the complex society.

EXPECTED RESULTS

A. Use of advanced textbooks, knowledge of some avant-garde themes within the subject studied, with specific reference to the formulas used to effectively depict contemporary society.

B. A professional approach to work and possession of adequate skills to devise arguments, support them and solve problems in the field of the subject studied, with particular attention to the socio-psycho-pedagogical mechanisms underlying our critical thinking and the ways in which judgments and opinions can be formulated.

C. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for making autonomous judgments, with specific reference to finding and evaluating some main “best practices” for a correct interpretation of the data acquired.

D. Ability to communicate information and ideas and to formulate analytical contributions for the benefit of specialist and non-specialist interlocutors, with specific reference to the causes and effects of the accelerating processes of our era by identifying technical, social and individual aspects.

E. Ability to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy, keeping up to date on the organisation of one’s own study by means of tools and methods conducive to the ‘learning to learn’.

DIDACTICS PROVISION

• 4 hours of recorded video lessons available on the platform;
• 2 synchronous meetings on the platform;
• podcasts of all the video lessons mentioned above.

INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS

• 1 course orientation forum;
• 2 thematic in-depth forums;
• possibility to carry out work in groups;
• 2 structured e-activities (as described in the section “in itinere assessment methods”).

SELF-LEARNING

Teaching materials are provided for each module: in-depth thematic studies, articles and slides by the lecturer, open-access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

Reference texts:

• Edgar Morin, “Insegnare a vivere. Manifesto per cambiare l’educazione”, Cortina, Milan, 2015.
• Tim Ingold, ‘Antropologia come educazione’, Edizioni La Linea, Bologna, 2019.
• Ubaldo Fadini, “Soggetto e fantasia. Per una antropologia macchinica”, Clinamen, Florence, 2020.

 Further readings:

• Hartmut Rosa, “Accelerazione e alienazione. Per una teoria critica del tempo nella tarda modernità”, Einaudi, Torino,2015.
• Ubaldo Fadini, “Velocità e attesa. Tecnica, tempo e controllo in Paul Virilio”, Ombre corte, Verona, 2020.

Access to the final examination is subject to the completion of 2 e-activities.

Each module includes a final e-activity consisting of a paper on the topics covered in the reference module, which will be communicated during the semester.

The assessment of learning will take the form of an oral interview on the course contents and on the final report submitted, if any. The grade (min 18, max 30 with possible honours) is determined by the level of performance for each of the following dimensions of the oral interview: mastery of contents, appropriateness of definitions and theoretical references, clarity of argument, command of specialist language.

Italian