The Metaphysics of Dante's ComedyThe recovery of Dante's metaphysics - which are very different from our own - is essential, argues Christian Moevs, if we are to resolve what has been called "the central problem in the interpretation of the Comedy." That problem is what to make of the Comedy's claim to the status of revelation, vision, or experiential record - as something more than imaginative literature. In this book Moevs offers the first sustained treatment of the metaphysical picture that grounds and motivates the Comedy, and the relation between those metaphysics and Dante's poetics. Moevs arrives at the radical conclusion that Dante believed that all of what we perceive as reality, the spatio-temporal world, is in fact a creation or projection of conscious being. Armed with this new understanding, Moevs is able to shed light on a series of perennial issues in the interpretation of the Comedy. |
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angelic intelligences anima Aquinas Aristotelian Aristotle Aristotle’s Augustine awakening Beatrice Beatrice’s body Bonaventure canto Christ Christian Comedy Comedy’s Commedia concept conscious contingent Convivio created creation creature Crucifixion Dante Dante's Dante’s divine Dottrina dell’Empireo eclipse Edited eighth sphere Empyrean ephemeral essence eternal Etienne Gilson existence experience fiction filosofia find finite finite form fire first five Gilson ground heaven hylomorphism identified infinite influence intellect Intellect-Being light Martianus Capella material medieval Mellone Metaphysics Michael Scot mind mondo moral motion Mover mulberry Mysticism Nardi nature Neoplatonic nexus one’s oneself ontological Ovid Paradiso 29 perfect Philosophy physical pilgrim Platonic Plotinus poetic potentiality Primo Mobile principle punto pure Purgatorio Pyramus and Thisbe reality reflected reflexivity revelation sacrifice says self-knowledge self-sacrifice self-subsistent selfless sense Sententiarum simile space-time spatiotemporal sublunar substance things Thomistic thought tradition transcendent Translated truth tutto understanding University Press Unmoved Mover words