Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding
The students, at the end of the course, will be aware of the complexity of the nature-culture system and will be able to avoid short-sight simplifications. Through the encounter with some philosophical models, they will be able to recognize the anthropological implication of the agri-food system.
Applying knowledge and understanding
The students will be able to understand how specific issues in food production and consumption affect human identity and behaviour. They will understand the importance of the Triple Base Line (people-planet-profit) in sustainability. They will be aware of the importance of transdisciplinarity, which means recognizing the pertinence of external competences and the ability to communicate with them.
Making judgements
The students will not be given a unique point of view on ethics: each student will be invited to use his personal ability to judge. However, they will be asked to listen also the anthropological issues which emerge in ‘odd’ proposals in the agri-food production. At the end of the course, the students will have at their disposal some basic tools to face bioethical issues and to participate to the bioethical debate.
Communication skills
The students will discover how any communication happens in a complex system made of cultural and ideal premises, sometimes hidden in the language itself. They will therefore learn to recognize the linguistic obstacles which provoke incommunicability and they will be invited to prepare a hospitable dialogue towards other’s instances.
Learning skills
At the end of the course, any student will be able to continue autonomously the investigation, moving from the provided bibliography or from bibliographic paths that he will be able to start.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
The course aims at establishing the foundations for environmental ethics, moving from a wide philosophical and anthropological perspective. In the beginning of the Ecological Movement, the accusation towards anthropocentrism highlights how the nexus man-earth (culture-nature) is a key point. This node has been expressed in different ways through ages: from the ancient cosmologies to the modern de-sacralization of nature, up to a reborn interest in contemporary philosophy, particularly in phenomenology.
On the other side, a new scenario appears with the ‘technocratic paradigm’ of post-modernity; many issues were unknown to traditional ethics. The course will thematize the nexus nature-culture, focusing in the agri-food system (anthropological side, production, distribution).
A peculiar attention will be devoted to the tension among different productive models (conventional, organic, biodynamic agriculture), providing both a yardstick and the syntax for a possible dialogue, in which both the scientific rigour and the concern for anthropological issues do not lack.
Finally, some hours will be dedicated to the study of the anthropological meaning of nutrition, in the tension between need and sense, competition and sharing, individual and society. Food taboos and animal rights will also be presented.
Full programme
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Bibliography
UN, “Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development” (2015);
Papa Francesco “Laudato si’” (Rome 2015);
M. Tallacchini, “Etiche della terra. Antologia di filosofia dell’ambiente”, Vita & Pensiero (Milano 1998);
A. Naess, “The Bases of the Deep Ecology Movement”, in "Ecology of Wisdom”, Counterpoint Press, (Berkley 2008);
B. Norton, “Why Preserve Natural Variety?”, Princeton University Press, (Princeton 2014);
J. Derrida, “The Animal That Therefore I Am”, Fordham University Press (New York 2008);
M. Merleau-Ponty, “Nature. Course Notes from the College de France”, Northwestern University Press (Evanston 2003);
R. Zoboli - F. Botturi, “Through the Convivium. Food and Nutrition Between Needs and Cultures”, Vita & Pensiero (Milano 2015);
R. Maier, “The Game of Sophia. Economy, Ecology and Human Dwelling”, Educatt (Milano 2015).
Students will receive the Lecturer’s notes.
Teaching methods
The course consists mainly in frontal lectures, with power-point projections; for a wider understanding of the history of culture, some artworks will be analyzed; open discussions on case studies and short group works will be also proposed.
Assessment methods and criteria
There will be a final exam (approved/not approved)
Other information
Attending the lectures is mandatory
