Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T11:19:03.503Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Moral philosophy

from Part II - Intellectual traditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2015

Luca Bianchi
Affiliation:
Università del Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli
Zygmunt G. Barański
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Lino Pertile
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Get access

Summary

Dante terms ‘moral philosophy’, ‘moral science’, and ‘moral doctrine’ the ‘part’ of ‘wisdom’ (Conv. III, xv, 14) that establishes what is good, how human beings should act, and which kind of life is best for them. When he speaks of ethica (in Latin) and etica (in Italian), he instead generally refers to a clearly identified text, namely the Nicomachean Ethics, the only Aristotelian work devoted to this branch of learning that was known during the Middle Ages, apart from a compilation of short passages from the Magna moralia (Great Ethics) and the Eudemian Ethics called Liber de bona fortuna (Book of Good Fortune). Dante's terminological precision is significant, but should not be overstated. Of course, one cannot approach the treatment of ‘ethics’ in his times without bearing in mind that a variety of sources for discussing moral problems were available, and that there existed a plurality of paradigms of moral philosophy and theology. This means that Dante's own views on ethical issues cannot be properly understood without recognizing that he was influenced – directly or indirectly – by Latin moral thought, in particular Cicero (106–43 BCE) and Seneca (c.1 BCE–CE 65; called ‘moral Seneca’ in Inf. IV, 141); by the Roman juridical tradition; by the Bible and the Church Fathers, beginning with Augustine (354–430); by Boethius' (c.475/77–526?) Consolatio philosophiae (Consolation of Philosophy, c.524); by Christian moral compilations such as the Formula vitae honestae (Form of Honest Living) composed by Martin of Braga (c.520–80) between 570 and 579; by the classifications of sins elaborated by Cassianus (c.360–435) and Gregory the Great (c.540–604) and developed in compendia for preachers and in treatises on vices and virtues; by Giles of Rome's (c.1243–1316) De regimine principum (On the Government of Rulers, 1277–81), quickly translated into Italian; and by the moral sections of theological summae. Nevertheless, the fact remains that for Dante, as well as for his contemporaries, the study of a discipline meant in the first place the study of the book that had laid its foundations. And as we shall see, from the thirteenth century onwards all agreed that the Nicomachean Ethics was the ‘handbook’ for teaching moral philosophy.

What is more, the Nicomachean Ethics – ‘your Ethics’, as Virgil says to Dante in Inferno XI, 80 – was one of Dante's livres de chevet.

Type
Chapter
Information
Dante in Context , pp. 159 - 172
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×