Una ragazza in cattedra : la prolusione di Laura Bassi

The article provides the first edition from an original source of an academic lecture by Laura Bassi (1711-­1778). A sketch of the bio-­bibliographical profile of Bassi, enhanced by some significant evidence of the resonance and reception of the news of her doctorate (May 1732), is followed by the transcript and translation of the Latin manuscript containing the speech she delivered on her first lectio publica as professor of Philosophia Universa at the University of Bologna (December 1732). The text corresponds in particular to the first of the two lectures Bassi held on that particular occasion and shows her broad philosophical and literary culture, while at the same time it manifests her expli-­ cit predilection for experimental philosophy and empiricism. It also contains a critique of several modern authors, which suggests Bassi's radical rejection of the authority principle and a form of distrust towards metaphysical speculation. [Publisher's text].