Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza

This course focuses on some of the most important concepts of our juridical culture, as they have been formalized at the XVIII century, in order to discuss the various philosophical contemporary theories of Justice.

Through a theoretical approach, the course aims at providing the students with the tools which are necessary to understand and critically analyze the concept of Justice, coinceived as an expression of Tolerance, freedom and equality. These concepts have a very long tradition in the european context and they are still the basis of our legal scaffolding: we will therefore consider what value they express today, facing the most critical issues on justice of nowadays.  

By the end of the course students should have developed a critical approach to the topics that have been presented and in particular, they should achieve the following learning objectives:

Knowledge and comprehension

- In-depth knowledge of the main concepts related to the idea of Justice in EU, throghout history and philosophical reflection

- Awareness of the remarkable implications in assuming a specific definition of Justice

Ability to apply knowledge and comprehension 

- Ability to handle a complex reasoning on theoretical concepts of our juridical culture

- Ability to apply the rules and principles that express the idea of justice in EU law to a given concrete situation and to catch their implications

Autonomous intellectual approach and critical thinking

- Ability to organise the knowledge acquired and to weight its importance and relevance

- Ability to understand and to personally discuss topical issues 

- Ability to explain the knowledge acquired, by using an appropriate legal terminology

This course will focus on the idea of Justice considered as an expression of freedom and equality. According to  the Enlightenment legal thought, these two principles are fundamental for building a society of peace: we will face them in a critical way, trying to understand what they mean today. 

In sum, the course will deal with the following topics: 

• First part: 

The Enlightenment and its legal culture

- Definition of the concept of law. Limits. Law as an object. Law as a process

- Rationality and its implications: the question of Subject; responsability concept

- Natural law and the birth of society

- General will/general interest - Universalism.Society conceived as a body

- The question of fear. The social contract

- The question of freedom. The question of tolerance. Voltaire and Locke on tolerance

• Second part: 

The contemporary thought on Justice

- Public reason. Community: different opinions, sharing of beliefs

- Tolerance as an epistemological approach: a continuous negotiation and re-negotiation of the social contract. Tolerance as a dynamic concept

- The equality concept, from Modernity to nowadays. 

- J. Rawls' perspective on Justice: universal shared values

- A. Sen's perspective on justice: democracy as a government through debate

- Justice conceived as an open concept

Lessons will be held in person. Attendance in person is highly recommended, as the lessons will be increasingly interactive over the weeks. 

All the materials will be made available through the teaching platform (Moodle e-learning page)

It is therefore essential and compulsory that all the students enrol in the teaching platform to have full access both to materials, discussions and communications

For those students who will attend class, the evaluation will consist of a combination of the active participation in the weekly lessons and of a final oral discussion on a specific topic chosen by the student, dealing with the major theoretical aspects related to it and other further questions (posed by the professor) related to topics that have been presented throughout the course (an average of 2-3 main questions).

For the students who will NOT attend the course and will not participate at the weekly lessons, the evaluation will be based on a oral exam consisting of 3/4 questions related to the materials published on the Moodle platform

For the purposes of the final evaluation, the following criteria will be taken into consideration:

- formal accuracy 

- completeness of the answers

- adequate selection of the relevant arguments

- adequate presentation of the arguments (including use of an appropriate legal terminology)

- autonomous organization and elaboration of the answer

In general, the evaluation will depend on the ability to give an answer expressing a coherent reasoning, consistent with the underlying theoretical background and adequately motivated.