Corso di laurea magistrale in Filosofia

Knowledge of classical texts in the history of scientific and philosophical thought.
Understanding and contextualization of each text in its historical and theoretical dimensions, to be achieved through guided reading, discussion, and individual study.
Development of comprehension and critical skills in the analysis of the texts, especially of the ability to recognize and assess philosophical arguments and argumentative styles in them.

Knowledge and understanding of the course materials, of their historical and philosophical contexts, and of their contents.
Ability to apply existing and new notions based on a plausible interpretation of the philosophical arguments in the examined texts.
Ability to assess and critically discuss authoritative interpretations.
Ability to address problems and new solutions in an effective and consistent way.
Ability to produce autonomous research and to express it both in written form and orally.

36-hour class, inclusive of a set of lectures, which will be recorded and made available for straming on Moodle, seminar-style discussions and written assignments.

The oral exam will test students' knowledge and understanding of the course materials, their capacity to situate the primary sources in their historical context and to analyze their philosophical contents, the ability to engage with the philosophical problems discussed during the course in a critical way, the acquisition of argumentative skills.

The grade from 1/30 to a maximum of 30/30 cum laude will depend for its 70% on the oral exam and for the 30% on the student's active participation in the discussions or on assignments for those who cannot attend classes.

The exam materials will be the same for students who can and those who cannot attend classes.

The course will address some key aspects of the relation between geometry and physics in the scientific and philosophical thought from the nineteenth century to present. There are few events in the history of scientific thought whose philosophical implications have been more significant than the so-called non-Euclidean geometries. Beginning in the first half of the nineteenth century, the only "true" geometry of Euclid has been replaced by a plurality of geometries, each of which is logically consistent with its own premises. The fact that rival geometries had been gradually accepted led the scientific community, and consequently the philosophical one, to rethink the questions concerning the nature and origins of geometrical axioms as well as the relation between geometry and physics. In what sense is it possible to talk about mutually incompatible but all equally "true" geometries? How are they related to one another? How is it possible to select which among them apply to the physical world? What are the geometrical presuppositions of physical measurements? How do such presuppositions change from Newtonian physics to Einstein's theory of relativity? These questions will be discussed on the basis of a critical analysis of texts by some of the protagonists of this debate, such as Bernhard Riemann, Hermann von Helmholtz, Henri Poincaré, Albert Einstein, as well as important contributions for a better understanding of these authors' thought in the history and philosophy of science of the past decades.

- Fisica e geometria dall'Ottocento a oggi, raccolta di testi a cura di Paolo Parrini, Torino: Loescher, 1979.

- Robert DiSalle, Capire lo spazio-tempo: lo sviluppo filosofico della fisica da Newton a Einstein, Torino: Bollati Boringhieri, 2009. English original available on: EBSCOhost Ebook Academic Collection (accessible from the UniTo library catalogue).