Thinker · TH-0461
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet, political thinker and philosopher from Florence, best known for the Divine Comedy. Exiled from Florence in 1302 after…
Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet, political thinker and philosopher from Florence, best known for the Divine Comedy. Exiled from Florence in 1302 after factional struggles, he spent the rest of his life in other Italian cities. In Monarchy he argued that humanity needs a single world ruler, the emperor, to secure peace, and that the emperor's authority comes directly from God rather than through the pope. His Convivio brought philosophy to readers in Italian, and the Comedy turns Aristotelian and Christian ideas into poetry about sin, justice and love. He died in exile at Ravenna.
Key ideas
- The human race has a proper task, the full use of the power of intellect, which can be achieved only in universal peace.
- Universal peace requires a single temporal ruler, a monarch or emperor, above all kingdoms.
- Humans have two ends, happiness in this life and eternal life, guided respectively by the emperor and the pope.
- The emperor's authority comes directly from God, not through the papacy.
Major works
- Divine Comedy (c. 1308–1320)
- Monarchy (De Monarchia) (c. 1313)
- Convivio (c. 1304–1307)
- De vulgari eloquentia (c. 1302–1305)
- La Vita Nuova (c. 1294)
In the Book corner
- Monarchy (De Monarchia)
A Latin treatise in three books in which Dante argues for a universal temporal monarchy, or empire, independent of the papacy. Book…
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