The Italian Cultural Institute, in collaboration with Prof. Andrea Falcon (Department of Philosophy, Concordia University), is pleased to announce a series of talks on the topic of “Dante and Philosophy”.
Dante (1265-1321) was not a professional philosopher but was seriously engaged with philosophy, and this engagement was essential to his work as a whole. With the help of three guest speakers, we will explore various aspects of Dante’s engagement with philosophy from the Convivio to the Commedia.
Friday, November 9, 6 pm
Italian Cultural Institute, 1200 Dr. Penfield Avenue
Event in Italian
The XIX and XX chants of Paradiso should be devoted to human justice, but they are actually for Dante also and above all an opportunity to develop – through one of the most sophisticated and complex theological sections of the entire Commedia – the theme of divine justice, in a relationship both to the salvation of non-Christians and more generally to the predestination of the elect. Although it has often been attempted to attribute to the Dantean discourse (by the mouth of L’Aquila) a strong critical value towards ‘official’ Christianity, the position resulting from these two chants seems to respect the strict canons of the orthodoxy of era: the elements and especially the most striking examples that can be found – and that cause an exclamation of astonishment barely concealed by the poet himself ( “what things are these?”) – however allow Dante to enrich this framework with details together suggestive and original.
Pasquale Porro is Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Bari, Italy, where he also teaches Greek, Arabic, and Latin Philosophy. He is also Professor of Medieval Philosophy and Director of the “Centre de Recherche Pierre Abélard” at the Sorbonne Université, Paris. He is currently invited Professor at the Istituto di Studi Filosofici, Facoltà di Teologia di Lugano and at the Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano.
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