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The 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. 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.
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Armed with this new understanding, Moevs is able to shed light on a series of perennial issues in the interpretation of the Comedy. Hardcover , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Metaphysics of Dante's Comedy , please sign up. Be the first to ask a question about The Metaphysics of Dante's Comedy.
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See all customer images. Showing of 5 reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Thomas Aquinas said of allegory that it is useful both to present spiritual truths to those accustomed to thinking only in the terms of sensual reality and, simultaneously, to hide them from the unworthy St. In the first two canticles of the Comedy Inferno and Purgatorio Dante has a strong physical-sensual image: Spiritual realities are described in terms of movement in physical space.
In Inferno the pilgrim descends into a pit, in Purgatorio, he climbs a mountain. In Paradiso, the central image is light, which is, no doubt, sensual but not really physical. It is, in fact, psychical.
5 editions of this work
In Paradiso, Dante's mystical-metaphysical concerns come to the fore. He begins Paradiso 2 with a warning: Moreover, those who think themselves capable of following had better keep up there are no maps to where he is going and no place ask directions. Then, to reenforce his warning, the canto continues with Dante and Beatrice landing on the moon and getting into an abstruse disputation about the "moonspots" including a Fourteenth Century map of the cosmos and experiments you can do at home.
I admit to my shame and chagrin that I have, more than once, been forced to submit and put the book down. Which is why I recommend this book. The point of allegory, after all, is its subtext and this book shines in conveying you past the surface conversation to what Dante and Beatrice are really talking about if you believe they are "really" discussing "moonspots," Moevs can't help you. Also, if you like, you can check out my author's page Dante's Journey: A Field Guide to the Infernal Regions and keep a look out for my new book on Purgatorio which will be out shortly.
I can't read the book yet because the copy I received is such a poor quality digital reprint. The "white" pages are grey with dots, the text is low-resolution, fuzzy, and grey. Shockingly poor quality from Oxford. I have requested a replacement copy from Amazon and will revise this review if the next copy is better.
If there is a whole print run like this it should be pulped.
The metaphysics of Dante's comedy / Christian Moevs - Details - Trove
What I received is worse than a photo-copy. I tried uploading a customer photo showing a detail of a page. This is a good example of the risk of automating the whole process of book-selling. A nice clean copy of the original book was probably scanned, printed, bound and packaged without human eyes ever looking upon any part of the process. I'm impressed that Amazon quickly shipped me a third copy, but this one suffered exactly the same production quality defects as the other two. See the customer photo I uploaded.
In the end, Amazon is out six times two-day UPS charges three round trips! Amazon seems to have removed the paperback from sale -- perhaps they finally examined the whole stock and verified the problem with a whole print run? Oxford should be embarrassed. For the author's sake I hope they correct the problem soon!
Moevs poses a critical warning: What is needed, Moevs convincingly demonstrates, is to rid ourselves of "post-Renaissance, empiricist" assumptions; e. The path that Moevs provides is a rigorous but clearly written intellectual and comparative history of the ideas that informed late-medieval understandings and make them radically different than those of "modern" philosophy.
Do not assume that you have walked this path. Neither Ozanam's beautifully written "Dante and Catholic Philosophy", written to assert Dante's orthodoxy, nor Gilson's "Dante and Philosophy", written to "define Dante's attitudes Moevs' text is indeed "the first sustained treatment of the metaphysical picture that grounds and motivates the Comedy".
Moevs has reproduced his own journey to a fuller understanding of Dante's Comedy and the philosophies that inform it and make it meaningful to us.
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His readers owe Christian Moevs a gracious and sincere Thank You! Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. This book, for me, was like a cold shower, ridding my mind of much academic dross and re-installing The Comedy to a beloved place in my inner library. It's a great pity more of us "outside the walls" don't know of it. See all 5 reviews. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers.
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