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Dante's Philosophical Life : Politics and Human Wisdom in "Purgatorio" / Paul Stern.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2018]Copyright date: ©2018Description: 1 online resource (304 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780812295016
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 851/.1 23
LOC classification:
  • PQ4448
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Chapter 1. Politics, Poetry, and Philosophy in Purgatorio -- Chapter 2. “What Good Would Climbing Do?”: The Rationale and Impetus for the Pursuit of Self- Knowledge (Cantos I–IX) -- Chapter 3. “To a Better Nature You Lie Subject”: The Political Character of Humanity and Nature (Cantos X–XVII) -- Chapter 4. Disrobing the Siren: The Zealous Pursuit of Clarity (Cantos XVII–XIX) -- Chapter 5. “When Love Breathes Within Me”: The Desirability of Desire (Cantos XIX–XXVII) -- Chapter 6. “The Nest for Human Nature”: Earthly Paradise and the “Happiness in This Life” (Cantos XXVIII–XXXIII) -- Chapter 7. Dante’s Human Wisdom -- Notes -- Index -- Acknowledgments
Summary: When political theorists teach the history of political philosophy, they typically skip from the ancient Greeks and Cicero to Augustine in the fifth century and Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth, and then on to the origins of modernity with Machiavelli and beyond. Paul Stern aims to change this settled narrative and makes a powerful case for treating Dante Alighieri, arguably the greatest poet of medieval Christendom, as a political philosopher of the first rank.In Dante's Philosophical Life, Stern argues that Purgatorio's depiction of the ascent to Earthly Paradise, that is, the summit of Mount Purgatory, was intended to give instruction on how to live the philosophic life, understood in its classical form as "love of wisdom." As an object of love, however, wisdom must be sought by the human soul, rather than possessed. But before the search can be undertaken, the soul needs to consider from where it begins: its nature and its good. In Stern's interpretation of Purgatorio, Dante's intense concern for political life follows from this need, for it is law that supplies the notions of good that shape the soul's understanding and it is law, especially its limits, that provides the most evident display of the soul's enduring hopes.According to Stern, Dante places inquiry regarding human nature and its good at the heart of philosophic investigation, thereby rehabilitating the highest form of reasoned judgment or prudence. Philosophy thus understood is neither a body of doctrines easily situated in a Christian framework nor a set of intellectual tools best used for predetermined theological ends, but a way of life. Stern's claim that Dante was arguing for prudence against dogmatisms of every kind addresses a question of contemporary concern: whether reason can guide a life.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780812295016

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Chapter 1. Politics, Poetry, and Philosophy in Purgatorio -- Chapter 2. “What Good Would Climbing Do?”: The Rationale and Impetus for the Pursuit of Self- Knowledge (Cantos I–IX) -- Chapter 3. “To a Better Nature You Lie Subject”: The Political Character of Humanity and Nature (Cantos X–XVII) -- Chapter 4. Disrobing the Siren: The Zealous Pursuit of Clarity (Cantos XVII–XIX) -- Chapter 5. “When Love Breathes Within Me”: The Desirability of Desire (Cantos XIX–XXVII) -- Chapter 6. “The Nest for Human Nature”: Earthly Paradise and the “Happiness in This Life” (Cantos XXVIII–XXXIII) -- Chapter 7. Dante’s Human Wisdom -- Notes -- Index -- Acknowledgments

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

When political theorists teach the history of political philosophy, they typically skip from the ancient Greeks and Cicero to Augustine in the fifth century and Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth, and then on to the origins of modernity with Machiavelli and beyond. Paul Stern aims to change this settled narrative and makes a powerful case for treating Dante Alighieri, arguably the greatest poet of medieval Christendom, as a political philosopher of the first rank.In Dante's Philosophical Life, Stern argues that Purgatorio's depiction of the ascent to Earthly Paradise, that is, the summit of Mount Purgatory, was intended to give instruction on how to live the philosophic life, understood in its classical form as "love of wisdom." As an object of love, however, wisdom must be sought by the human soul, rather than possessed. But before the search can be undertaken, the soul needs to consider from where it begins: its nature and its good. In Stern's interpretation of Purgatorio, Dante's intense concern for political life follows from this need, for it is law that supplies the notions of good that shape the soul's understanding and it is law, especially its limits, that provides the most evident display of the soul's enduring hopes.According to Stern, Dante places inquiry regarding human nature and its good at the heart of philosophic investigation, thereby rehabilitating the highest form of reasoned judgment or prudence. Philosophy thus understood is neither a body of doctrines easily situated in a Christian framework nor a set of intellectual tools best used for predetermined theological ends, but a way of life. Stern's claim that Dante was arguing for prudence against dogmatisms of every kind addresses a question of contemporary concern: whether reason can guide a life.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 04. Okt 2022)