Knowledge of fundamental concepts and problems in democratic theory in relation to the processes and contemporary cultural conflicts. Specifically, the following skills are going to be developed: To know and understand the basic concepts and problems of contemporary theories of justice. To know and understand the basic concepts and problems of the concept of political culture. To know and understand current theories on political representation. To acquire conceptual and methodological skills relative to these concepts and problems. To be able to analyze and critically judge the debates present in the various studies on the subject. To discuss the relevant literature. To be able to develop academic oral and written texts related to the subject. As a result of learning, the student will know the main issues addressed by the political philosophy in relation to the formation of a democratic political culture. They will acquire the conceptual skills and methodology to address them and will be able to handle the literature on the subject. The final paper of the course will be a valuable exercise for achieving the highest standards of conceptual rigor in academic debate.

The upcoming course will be entirely devoted to the relationship between politics and performance. The course will focus on both phenomena, which are more closely connected than seems at first glance: on the one side, the current spectacularity of politics, perceived as a never-ending performance; on the other side, the explicit political intent of a prominent part of contemporary artistic practices and, particularly, of performance art. The goal is to sketch the map of the possible convergences between both fields, dragging them into a philosophical and ideological framework that could be analytically fruitful. We will try to identify the nature of the performative component in contemporary politics, as long as we will try to clarify the place in which is rooted the political component of performance art. In the background of this discussion, we will consider the widespread crisis of representation that looms on the present democracies and the ensuing transformations of the social movements of protest. At the philosophical level, we will tackle the awkward tendency to aesthetization that seems to be rooted at the core of modernity so that we will end up dealing with the dilemmas of the presence in the public sphere and of repetition.

Teacher presentations on the general contents of the course and on selected texts. Discussions with students about the issues involved and about the adecuate conceptual tools to confront them. A tutorial system to guide students in the realization of the final work will be established.