Research Topics
The PhD course "Transcendental Philosophy and Reflective Society" starts from the specific need for theoretical problematization and historiographic reconstruction of the main topics of transcendental philosophy. By this expression we refer to that philosophical perspective matured starting from Kantian criticism, and rooted in Cartesianism, which places the reflective and intentional elaboration of concrete consciousness at the centre of the relationship between mind and world. This is understood both as a specifically individual achievement and as a general structure of construction of the sense of reality starting from the relationship between subject and object.
On a theoretical level, transcendental philosophy investigates this structure in its conditions of possibility, reflecting on its limits and potentiality. Transcendental reflection, therefore, poses questions related to the conditions of possibility of the image of the world that it is possible to build from the point of view of concrete consciousness, questioning the limits of the argument that can be formulated in relation to this image and examining the way in which it is possible, starting from this image, to understand nature and operate on it.
From a practical point of view, transcendental philosophy studies the modalities of interaction between subject, community and world by questioning the principles, methods and domains of validity of the sciences and disciplines that are formed within the framework of "state sciences" and evolve as "human and social sciences". These questions are at the basis of the development of modern thought and criticism of the modern conception of the subject's access to the world. Moreover, the study of transcendental philosophy cannot disregard a rigorous historical reconstruction of the ways and trends through which the questions that characterize it penetrate and influence contemporary debate.
The PhD "Transcendental Philosophy and Reflective Society" includes research on the following themes:
1. Transcendental metaphysics, ontologies and epistemologies, from a historical or a systematic point of view.
2. Paradigms of rationality and the transcendental foundation of ethics, politics, aesthtetics and religion.
3. Transcendental argument and the theories of intentionality, reflexivity and recursivity.
At the end of the training, the PhD graduate:
1. Will have an up-to-date knowledge of the state of the art in the disciplinary context of her field of historical-philosophical and theoretical research; she will be able to master the research methods of theoretical investigation and of the historical and philological work of reconstruction of the context in which she/he operates; she will be able to implement strategies of analysis and interpretation of the philosophical text. She will have acquired the competence to express and discuss the results of her/his research in international scenarios.
2. She will have the ability to conceive original research themes and will know how to draft their development and publish the results according to the research standards (technical, digital, bibliographical, archival) and she will be able to disseminate the outcomes.
3. She will have achieved language skills that enable her to interact in an international context and to gain a complete and up-to-date view of the research on the topics she/he intends to deal with and develop.
4. She will have a specific expertise, of historical and theoretical kind, in relation to the thematic areas and methods which are characteristic of transcendental philosophy: form, representation and image; paradigms and criticisms of modern rationality; reflexivity, recursiveness and argumentation; freedom, norms and action; intentionality and nature.
The profile of the PhD graduate in Philosophy finds an outlet in the field of philosophical and historical-philosophical research; in the field of translation, edition, and editing of philosophical texts; in the field of organization and formation of knowledge, bioethics, philosophical consulting and coaching; in web-managing and specialized and popular publishing. A direct, in-depth and prolonged knowledge of fundamental cultural areas of the international level makes the PhD graduate a flexible and qualified operator in the organization of cultural cooperation activities in the humanistic and social areas.