In its institutional part, the aim of teaching is to provide students with basic knowledge of the evolution of the sciences of the mind and the brain, with particular reference to learning, emotional, motivational and decision-making processes and self-control. The historical perspective will focus on the relations between psychological sciences and neuroscience and their transformation over time, from the scientific revolution to contemporary age.
This year the focus of the course will explore the history of the concept of emotion, particularly naturalized approaches to the study of affective processes. We will discuss the major philosophical, scientific, medical, historical, and socio-cultural concepts and factors that led to the development of the contemporary concept of emotion.
This year the focus of the course will explore the history of the concept of emotion, particularly naturalized approaches to the study of affective processes. We will discuss the major philosophical, scientific, medical, historical, and socio-cultural concepts and factors that led to the development of the contemporary concept of emotion.
teacher profile teaching materials
History of an idea from natural philosophy to neuroscience
PROGRAM
Module 1 - Introduction to the course, sense of history, ethics, politics and social factors of the sciences of the mind and the brain
• Why study the history of the science of the mind.
• Politics, ethics and sciences of the mind and brain. What relationships?
Module 2 - Passions, affections, emotions, feelings. The universe of discourse on human emotional processes. Critical analysis and introductory history
• Categories for defining the concept of Emotion.
Module 3 - Psyche, emotions and body in Greek thought
The philosophers of nature and emotions
• Passions, Psyche and body in Plato
• Aristotle and the passions.
• Emotions in Stoicism.
• A medicine of the passions: Hippocrates.
Module 4 - Brain, mind, passions and diseases from the Alexandrian medical school in Galen
Module 5 - The scientific revolution, the birth of modern science and new research on the mind and brain
Module 6 - Brain, mind and passions between the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution
• Body and emotions from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
• Descartes: the passions of the soul, body and mechanism
Module 7 - Theories of passions, body and reason in the eighteenth century
• Hobbes
• Spinoza
• Pascal
• The emotions and the body in French materialism between the 1700s and 1800s
Module 8 - Philosophy, psychology and ethics of affective states in British empiricism and associations
• Psychology, philosophy and ethics of affective states in British empiricism and associations
• John Locke, David Hartley, Adam Smith, David Hume
• Association, emotion and movement in James Mill
• Associations, mental chemistry, utilitarianism and emotions
Module 8 - The definition of the psychological category of emotion: Thomas Brown
• Thomas Brown: movement, emotion and knowledge and the definition of emotions as a psychological category
Module 9 - Emotions and Evolutionism
• From fixism to evolutionism
• Lamarck and Spencer emotions as the engine of evolution
• Evolution, emotions and knowledge. Spencer and the hypothesis of evolutionary epistemology
• Darwin's evolutionism
• The expression of emotions and emotions as adaptive tools
Module 10 - The dawn of the neurophysiology of emotions and emotional behavior
• Bell, Magendie, Flourens, Marshall Hall, Alexander Bain
Module 11 - Williams James and the psychophysiological breakthrough in the study of emotions. Advent and development of somatic theories of emotions
• The advent of the biology of emotions and experimental studies on affective processes: Somatic theories of emotions and critical developments.
• What is an emotion? William James
• The theory of Giuseppe Sergi
• Emotions, evolution and knowledge. John Dewey's pragmatism
Module 12 - The localization of emotions in the brain
• Theoretical-critical notes on localization (phrenology, neophrenology)
• Mosso, Cannon, Hess, bard, Olds Milner, Delgado, the case of Phineas Gage
• Kluwer Bucy, Weiskrantz and the amygdala
• Side emotions
• Frontal emotions .. between Leonardo Bianchi, Moniz, Bechara and Damasio
• Localize emotions critical notes ... new phrenology? ...
Module 13 - The return to an integrationist vision of emotions and the psycho-evolutionary synthesis
• Papez, MacLean, Pribram and the outline of the idea of the somatic marker, Plutchik, Damasio
• Return to the expressions of emotions, Ekman's evolutionism
Module 14 - The birth of the neuropharmacology of emotions
• The discovery of neurotransmitters
• The neurotransmitters of the emotional brain
• Neuropeptides and emotions
Module 15 - Emotions, stress, and illness. The naturalization of psychosomatics short history
Module 16 - Disturbing passions, language and self-control: The case of addictions
• Riccardo Luccio, Dall'anima alla mente: Breve storia della psicologia, Editori Laterza
• Luciano Mecacci: Storia della psicologia: Dal Novecento a oggi, Editori Laterza
capitoli da studiare:
capitolo IV: La prospettiva comportamentista
capitolo V: La prospettiva cognitivista
capitolo VII: La prospettiva biologica e neuroscientifica
capitolo VIII: Il dibattito contemporaneo
Testo da studiare per la parte monografica sulla storia delle emozioni:
• Keith Oatley, Breve storia delle emozioni, Il mulino, Bologna.
Dispense del docente
Programme
What is an emotion?History of an idea from natural philosophy to neuroscience
PROGRAM
Module 1 - Introduction to the course, sense of history, ethics, politics and social factors of the sciences of the mind and the brain
• Why study the history of the science of the mind.
• Politics, ethics and sciences of the mind and brain. What relationships?
Module 2 - Passions, affections, emotions, feelings. The universe of discourse on human emotional processes. Critical analysis and introductory history
• Categories for defining the concept of Emotion.
Module 3 - Psyche, emotions and body in Greek thought
The philosophers of nature and emotions
• Passions, Psyche and body in Plato
• Aristotle and the passions.
• Emotions in Stoicism.
• A medicine of the passions: Hippocrates.
Module 4 - Brain, mind, passions and diseases from the Alexandrian medical school in Galen
Module 5 - The scientific revolution, the birth of modern science and new research on the mind and brain
Module 6 - Brain, mind and passions between the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution
• Body and emotions from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
• Descartes: the passions of the soul, body and mechanism
Module 7 - Theories of passions, body and reason in the eighteenth century
• Hobbes
• Spinoza
• Pascal
• The emotions and the body in French materialism between the 1700s and 1800s
Module 8 - Philosophy, psychology and ethics of affective states in British empiricism and associations
• Psychology, philosophy and ethics of affective states in British empiricism and associations
• John Locke, David Hartley, Adam Smith, David Hume
• Association, emotion and movement in James Mill
• Associations, mental chemistry, utilitarianism and emotions
Module 8 - The definition of the psychological category of emotion: Thomas Brown
• Thomas Brown: movement, emotion and knowledge and the definition of emotions as a psychological category
Module 9 - Emotions and Evolutionism
• From fixism to evolutionism
• Lamarck and Spencer emotions as the engine of evolution
• Evolution, emotions and knowledge. Spencer and the hypothesis of evolutionary epistemology
• Darwin's evolutionism
• The expression of emotions and emotions as adaptive tools
Module 10 - The dawn of the neurophysiology of emotions and emotional behavior
• Bell, Magendie, Flourens, Marshall Hall, Alexander Bain
Module 11 - Williams James and the psychophysiological breakthrough in the study of emotions. Advent and development of somatic theories of emotions
• The advent of the biology of emotions and experimental studies on affective processes: Somatic theories of emotions and critical developments.
• What is an emotion? William James
• The theory of Giuseppe Sergi
• Emotions, evolution and knowledge. John Dewey's pragmatism
Module 12 - The localization of emotions in the brain
• Theoretical-critical notes on localization (phrenology, neophrenology)
• Mosso, Cannon, Hess, bard, Olds Milner, Delgado, the case of Phineas Gage
• Kluwer Bucy, Weiskrantz and the amygdala
• Side emotions
• Frontal emotions .. between Leonardo Bianchi, Moniz, Bechara and Damasio
• Localize emotions critical notes ... new phrenology? ...
Module 13 - The return to an integrationist vision of emotions and the psycho-evolutionary synthesis
• Papez, MacLean, Pribram and the outline of the idea of the somatic marker, Plutchik, Damasio
• Return to the expressions of emotions, Ekman's evolutionism
Module 14 - The birth of the neuropharmacology of emotions
• The discovery of neurotransmitters
• The neurotransmitters of the emotional brain
• Neuropeptides and emotions
Module 15 - Emotions, stress, and illness. The naturalization of psychosomatics short history
Module 16 - Disturbing passions, language and self-control: The case of addictions
Core Documentation
Testi da studiare per la parte istituzionale:• Riccardo Luccio, Dall'anima alla mente: Breve storia della psicologia, Editori Laterza
• Luciano Mecacci: Storia della psicologia: Dal Novecento a oggi, Editori Laterza
capitoli da studiare:
capitolo IV: La prospettiva comportamentista
capitolo V: La prospettiva cognitivista
capitolo VII: La prospettiva biologica e neuroscientifica
capitolo VIII: Il dibattito contemporaneo
Testo da studiare per la parte monografica sulla storia delle emozioni:
• Keith Oatley, Breve storia delle emozioni, Il mulino, Bologna.
Dispense del docente
Type of evaluation
Written exam with open-ended and multiple-choice questions for both institutional and monographic parts of the program. Written essay on the monographic part of the program to be delivered within 5 days before the call, maximum length of the text 16,000 characters including spaces and bibliography included.