Walking With Dante

Beatrice begins the final part of her argument with the premise that the freedom of the will is the greatest gift given to angels and humans.
She then offers one out to her rather strict notion of ethical behavior—some vows may not be valid—and proceeds to claim that the will wills its own loss while making a vow.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the apotheosis of free will in Beatrice's final discourse in the sphere of the moon.
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Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:33] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 17 - 33. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:24] The greatest gift is free will--thus, evil is a moral reality, not a metaphysical or an ontological reality.
[09:17] The will wills its loss in a vow, an act of self-limitation (if God so agrees).
[13:51] You can't climb over the fence of your vow.
[16:16] The will may well be paramount--unless a poet gets involved.
[19:16] Rereading PARADISO, Canto V, lines 17 - 33.

Dante wants to know if someone (who?) can make an unfulfilled vow good with other good works?
Beatrice begins her answer with a tightly woven passage that illustrate a high degree of poetic skill . . . and then seems to acknowledge her own role in starting a canto of the poem.
Dante's question remains curious? To or for whom was the vow made? And how is it broken?
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the meta-beginning of the fifth canto of PARADISO.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:20] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 1 - 16. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:15] Rhetorical strategies: fire, sight, and love tightly interwoven (along with a mixed metaphor!).
[09:05] Fire, sight, and love: the metaphoric crux for the theological idea of the vestige of eternal light in all things.
[13:14] The root of the problem of unfulfilled vows: potential litigation in heaven's court.
[18:04] A meta-canto possibly about the poet's unfulfilled vows . . . to Beatrice, yes, but perhaps also to his readers.
[24:16] Rereading PARADISO, Canto V, lines 1- 16.

Beatrice has answered the pilgrim's two unasked questions . . . but she doesn't yet know the one he really wants to ask.
Having heard her doctrines about free will and unfulfilled vows, the pilgrim Dante winds himself up through flattery and intellectual curiosity to ask perhaps a personal question about his own unfulfilled vows.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the ways Beatrice's discussions of free will have only caused the pilgrim Dante more problems, even as they've satisfied his intellect.
Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:35] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 115 - 142. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[04:20] The journey of the intellect is the journey of the desire that arises from doubt.
[12:37] The pilgrim Dante flatters Beatrice . . . maybe too much.
[17:43] Who is addressed in this passage? Isn't it too much to attribute to Beatrice?
[20:26] The poet mixes the metaphors to further push truth into poetic space.
[22:51] Dante asks a personal question about his unfulfilled vow . . . maybe.
[26:24] Beatrice, Francesca, Dante, and Nebuchadnezzar.
[30:11] Rereading PARADISO, Canto IV, lines 115 - 142.

Beatrice launches into a subpoint about free will, one derived from her larger discussion of culpability.
In this passage, she refines exactly why Piccarda and Constance are charged with breaking their vows in the sphere of the moon: They may have wanted to keep their vows, but that wanting doesn't negate their actions.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this bit of Scholastic reasoning that shores up an uncomfortable if orthodox notion of the will.
Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:33] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 91 - 114. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[04:07] My translated lines violate the incredible concision of Dante's Florentine poetry.
[06:36] The central problem: Can there be dissension among those in heaven?
[10:58] The notion of a first truth presumes second and third truths--and what are those?
[14:05] Beatrice offers an argument about the absolute will and the conditional will that is almost plagiarized from Aristotle and Aquinas.
[23:02] Beatrice and Dante the poet hold their orthodox fence firm.
[29:07] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto IV, lines 91 - 114.

Beatrice now takes on the pilgrim's second . . . doubt? It had been questions. Now it sounds as if it's more. Doubts.
Here, she launches into a discussion of free will that ultimately implicates Piccarda and Constance in their own failures, even though they were forced against their wills out of the convents.
Beatrice offers a hard, troubling rationale for their lower status in the pursuit of what she sees as the higher good: the sanctity of free will.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this provocative passage, one of the few moments in which Dante refuses to move his fences.
If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, please consider a donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:01] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 64 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:31] The less venomous doubt, perhaps because it takes place fully inside Christian theology.
[08:59] Laying the blame on Piccarda and Constance.
[13:04] Aristotle's concept of the involuntary will and the voluntary will; Aquinas' concept of the absolute will and the conditional will.
[19:53] Examples of a firm will: the Christian St. Lawrence and the pagan Mucius.
[24:47] Three implications: the punishment/reward matrix from INFERNO and PURGATORIO continuing into PARADISO, the possible self-editing of PARADISO, and the failure to move the established fence.
[30:33] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto IV, lines 64 - 90.