A working knowledge of English is required. Knowledge of the history of Western philosophy and literature is not required. Students are only required to show a willingness to place ideas in their specific contexts (historical, intellectual, economic, social and cultural). Course attendance is not mandatory (since it cannot be by law). However, common sense and a reasonable faith in the use of one's free will seem to indicate that, should the student be able to follow the lessons, attendance generates considerable intellectual advantages and perhaps it even enriches one's own experience (in terms of social and cultural life).

Students will acquire a suitable understanding of Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" and its relevance to current debates on feminism, gender and fictional narrative; will develop the ability to argue points that have been raised in class; they will familiarize themselves with the exercise of articulating a particular thesis or a particular topic in written form. The format of the course aims at encouraging a genuinely interdisciplinary approach in students, so that major themes addressed by philosophy, literature, science and technology are read and interpreted through a plurality of conceptual, literary and visual tools.

Woman and Fiction: Reading “A Room of One’s Own” (1929)

Addressing the issue concerning the relationship of “women and fiction”, Virginia Woolf famously declared that, by the time being, she could only suggest “one minor point”: “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”. That, she continued, “leaves the great problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction unsolved”. Presented as a book on the room and the money, the essay is in fact a remarkable investigation analytically detailing the limitations and disadvantages experienced by women throughout their history, the nature of that particular space that is needed by them in order to exercise the practice of writing, and the relationship between imagination and fiction. The course will discuss these points together with some more general questions concerning the legacy of Virginia Woolf as a thinker, how “A Room of One’s Own” has been interpreted in the history of modern feminism and the elusive character of thinking and selfhood (“‘I’ is only a convenient term for somebody who has no real being”).

For preparing their exam, students can rely on an electronic folder including all the materials whose study is required to pass the final exam. The course syllabus IS THE SAME for all students, regardless of whether they attend classes or not. In ‘History of Philosophical Methods’, all students are workers.

Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own", edited by Anna Snaith, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1992, ISBN 978-0-19-964221-2, pp. 1-86.

A handout in PDF format with all the materials mandatory for the exam will be available to students at the end of the course. The course syllabus IS THE SAME for all students, whether they are attending or not the course. In the "History of Philosophical Traditions" all students are considered workers.

• Learning is a craft to be daily honed by both teachers and students. As such, it requires a desire for knowledge and mutual understanding. The course is based on a close reading of Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own". Students will be encouraged in class to engage with the main topics examined during the course, through questions, comments and critical remarks. Teachers and students will share knowledge and critical thinking, and above all they will explore patterns of scholarly research as they are instantiated from week to week. Preparation of the written assignment required for the final exam will start early on during the term, through one-to-one meetings between student and teacher, and through discussions of potential preliminary drafts.

  
  

  A handout in PDF format with all the materials mandatory for the exam will be available to students. The course syllabus IS THE SAME for all students, whether they are attending or not the course. In the "History of Philosophical Models" all students are considered to be workers.

• The evaluation will take into account: 1) a written essay of about 4,000 words on one of the various topics examined or brought to light during the classes, to be delivered via email to the teacher at least ten days before the date of the final exam; any attempt at plagiarism will result in the rejection of the essay;

  2) a final oral exam, in which the results of the written essay will also be discussed. When writing their essay, students are encouraged to identify a possible research topic that has some connection with the course syllabus or with ideas that came up during lectures and class discussions. The range of issues that can be explored in the written essay is wide. Here are a few examples: Virginia Woolf, Modernism in literature and philosophy, the relationship between philosophy and literature, feminism, gender, sexuality, identity, the space of the imagination, fiction, philosophy and fiction.

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