The course aims at analyzing the concept of social suffering. Historically, this concept has been used by anthropologists and even literary theorists rather than by social scientists or political philosophers. However, in recent years it has been adopted also within the context of social philosophy to describe and evaluate social phenomena like discrimination against social groups, the increasingly negative effects of economic inequality on the quality of life, and the epidemic of psychological pathologies that affect our societies (from depression to burnout). We will discuss the concept from a theoretical point of view, but students are encouraged to adapt this theoretical knowledge to the analysis and evaluation of concrete cases of social suffering in their final essays and term papers.

Semester: ST 2024