Write a paper that explores the nature of Dante’s universe vis-a-vis the structure of human nature as Dante understood it. How do both differ from modern psychological and cosmological conceptions?
Well sh*t.
The universe according to Dante’s vision has it “that this earth is immovable, and does not revolve, and that, with the sea, it is the centre of the heavens.”
Perhaps try iterating how scientific advances beyond the milleniums since Ptolemy and Dante proposed their philosophy, have enabled us to understand that to our common knowledge this is conceptually untrue.
The idea that the Earth is the centre of everything, is perhaps a touch narcissistic, is it not? The idea that we are the centre of the universe, and that everything revolves around us, both on a literal and figurative level, denotes nothing short of a sense of arrogance.
We are merely a speck, revolving around a greater being, which is sure to be a mere speck on an infinite scale. Stars we see do not even exist anymore, at points, the time the light takes to even reach our eyes far outweighs any sense of time we can comprehend.
“Above us there are 9 rotating spheres. The highest is Crystalline and carries the stars. Above that is the Empyrean Heaven that is immoveable and is the abode of the Supreme Deity.
It is the pre-Copernican view of the cosmos, described with all the confidence of absolute knowledge. Note that at the beginning Aristotle is chastised for not knowing about the moving Crystalline ninth sphere and God’s perfect stationary and peaceful tenth heaven above it. But at the end, his authority is evoked for proof that an immovable earth is at the center of the heavens.”
A deity figure, of course is arguable. The planets are rotating around us, beyond this is the sun, beyond this is god. We know, really, that our galaxy is a mere speck among many, so perhaps forward this point.
This is helpful, but I believe my English teacher is looking for something else. More like, Dante has taken the Catholic/medieval view of the universe and applied human nature to it almost flawlessly. The Comedy, then, is less of a story and less of an “elucidation of the universe” than it is a psychological analysis of humanity in terms of sin.
