The Master's Degree Course in Philosophical Knowledge: Foundations, Methods, Applications is unique in the panorama of university education in Italy, aiming to reach the highest standards of excellence.
- It is the first Italian degree course in philosophy to be entirely taught in English. It is part of the framework of the European education system and aims to open the job opportunities of the global labour market to its graduates.
- This is an 'inter-university' degree course, taught jointly by three universities: the University of Bergamo (Administrative Headquarters for the first four years), the University of Pavia and the IUSS University School of Advanced Studies in Pavia). A large number of professors from these three important seats of learning in Lombardy, specialists in their respective subjects and endowed with relevant international experience, cooperate in the teaching of the disciplines included in the Course curriculum.
- The degree course leans towards an international teaching approach: every year, six renowned foreign philosophers, true authorities in their respective research areas, are invited to cooperate as professors in the training of students on the course, thus opening the course up to the cross-fertilisation of innovative teaching methods and teacher-student interaction.
- It is characterised by a new and profound focus on the applied dimensions of philosophical knowledge, methods and practices, in the assumption that rationality models, conceptual analysis tools and rational argumentation techniques must play an increasingly central role in decision-making and problem-solving processes in the economic, technological, business, political and social spheres in the broadest sense.
- With this in mind, the degree programme integrates the fundamental disciplines of philosophical enquiry with a number of scientific and technological disciplines within its teaching offering, opening up a whole range of further professional outlets for students. The areas studied include: metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, ethics, the philosophy of science, mind, logic and mathematics, together with scientific-technological subjects such as economics and business management, robotics, artificial intelligence, the neuroscience of decision-making, technology transfer and the environmental and economic challenges of sustainability.
- The course adopts a highly interactive teaching methodology that integrates lectures and workshop activities, as well as a qualifying and professionalising internship. It also makes good use of opportunities for exchange and interaction in Italy and abroad.