Dante Alighieri · Philosophy
Dante’s two guides are a philosophy in miniature. Virgil, the pagan poet, is human reason - able to lead the pilgrim through Hell and up all of Purgatory, but no further. Beatrice, descending from Heaven, is revelation and grace, who alone can carry him into Paradise. The poem dramatizes how far natural reason reaches, and where it must hand over.
You learned that Virgil represents natural human reason (and philosophy), which guides Dante through Hell and Purgatory but cannot enter Paradise, while Beatrice represents revelation and grace, who takes over at the summit; and that for Dante grace does not abolish reason but completes it. Explain how the two guides…
Leads to Boethius.
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