Dante and Humanism

The Machine of the World, the Centering of the Human, and the Anticipation of Renaissance Humanism in the Comedy

Abstract

In this article, Dante Alighieri’s Comedy is analyzed, with a focus on the opening of the “Machine of the World,” aiming to understand the intersections between the work and the emerging humanist sentiment during the transition from the Late Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The position of the human being in Dante’s epic universe foreshadows fundamental elements of Renaissance humanism, with his journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, emphasizing the role of the individual as a discoverer and knower, yet acknowledging a high degree of tension between the rational principle and the principle of faith and revelation. The research draws on the concept of “poetic humanism” as proposed by Professor Dante Tringali and the idea of unveiling/concealment in its tension with the notion of Christian revelation and the concept of truth and memory expressed in the Greek idea of alétheia and discussed in its poetic sense by Professor Jaa Torrano. These conceptual keys are read in relation to the proposed concept of “humanist understanding”. In the figure of the Poet, it is concluded that Dante stands out as a precursor to Renaissance ideals, positioning the human as the main actor in the divine and cosmic understanding and anticipating some of the principles that would shape modernity.