THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY - 106147

The course has two parts, one general and one monographic. The general part supplies an elementary introduction to analytic metaphysics, conceived of more as a speculative discipline than as a rigid complex of theories and solutions. The following topics are especially discussed: the relationship between metaphysics, ontology, logic and meaning; the problem of individuation; the notion of existence; the notion of identity; the nature of change;the metaphysics of time, the nature of causality; the theory of possible worlds; the notion of essence; the problem of universals; the theory of parts and wholes. The monographic part supplies an introduction to the problem of the nature of persons and their identity across time. We have many reasons to take a theoretical interest in persons, just as to take a practical interest in them. Asking questions about the nature of persons simply means raising problems about what we are, about our specific way of being and especially about our peculiar way of persisting across time. This explains why the notion of a person is probably the most important, complicated and crowded crossroads between philosophy, human sciences and common sense. The course supplies an introduction to the main analytical theories of persons and personal identity, focusing on their relationships with metaphysical issues of great generality, concerning numerical and qualitative identity, persistence across time and modality.