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Wednesday’s dialogue about divine will got me thinking about the role of human will (what at least Dante would probably call “free will”) in both the classical and Italian traditions. I liked Khadija’s comment about how, according to Dante’s faith, one cannot be saved by works alone, for one must also have “love in the heart.” What interests me about this comment is that Dante seems to repeatedly stress that such love in the heart is optional — that each person has the ability to chose whether or not he shall seek God’s love inside himself and then make the commitment to follow it. Obviously, Dante illustrates what happens to those who chose not to take this path, but, in doing so, he emphasizes that a condemned person’s fate results from an act of his personal will. I’m not sure how how free will fits into the classical tradition, though I think our reading from Plato’s “Phaedo” might offer some clues on this subject. Plato discusses how those who “purif[y] themselves sufficiently with philosophy” achieve peace in the afterlife, and I suppose this belief implies that one has a choice about whether or not to pursue philosophy in life. However, I’m not sure if free will plays the same role in the other classical texts we’ve read.
Despite the prevalence of free will in Dante’s work, it also seems that, according to Dante, man’s will is ultimately part of God’s larger will. We ended Wednesday’s discussion by analyzing the last line in “Paradiso” and debating whether this line speaks more of acceptance or bliss. Here I think it’s important to look not only at the poem’s last line, but also at the few lines preceding it. Lines 142-145 read, “Here force failed my high fantasy; but my / desire and will were moved already — like / a wheel revolving uniformly — by / the Love that moves the sun and the other stars.” This passage conveys how Dante’s will is subordinate to divine will, as Dante is no longer acting on his own because he is already “moved” by God. Thus, I’d say that this passage stands more as a statement of bliss than acceptance, and that this bliss seems to be so complete as to not allow for anything else; it stands so great as to even prevent Dante from consciously accepting God (…but that’s okay because God is already moving Dante to accept divine will). Therefore, I think “Paradiso”’s conclusion remains a great example of how Dante sees man’s will as a small piece of God’s greater will.
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Emily I enjoyed reading your entry. I agree with you that perhaps Dante would have called it “free will”. It seems that through your own personal covenant with God your own path is cultivated. The love that one has in their heart, pushes them closer to God. I also feel that this love in the heart makes it easier to absorb and move closer to this “divine will”.
Comment by Khadija 11.04.06 @ 11:54 am