Perception and Passion in Dante's Comedy

by Patrick Boyde

Overview

Patrick Boyde argues that the way in which Dante represents what he (or his fictional self) saw and felt was profoundly influenced by the thirteenth-century science of psychology. Professor Boyde offers an authoritative account of the way in which vision and the emotions were understood in Dante's lifetime. He rereads many of the most dramatic and moving episodes in the Comedy, and shows how knowledge of Dante's philosophical ideas can help us to understand the meaning of his journey toward the source of goodness and truth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521370097
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/16/1993
Pages:	364
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.98(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Part I. Coming to Terms with Aristotle: 1. The prestige and unity of the Aristotelian corpus; 2. Movement and change in lifeless bodies; 3. Self-change: growth and reproduction in plant life; 4. Self-movement: sensation and locomotion in animal life; Part II. The Operations of the Sensitive Soul in Man: 5. Perception of light and colour; 6. Perception of shape, size, number movement and stillness; 7. Imagining and dreaming; 8. Body-language and the physiology of passion; Part III. The Operations of the Rational Soul; 9. Self-direction: the powers of the mind; 10. Aspects of human freedom; Part IV. Combined Operations: 11. Fear; 12. Anger; 13. Desire; Notes; Select bibliography; Indexes.

Editorial Reviews

"...in it we are allowed to watch an elegant and graceful explicator at work, a truly learned and inventive reader who manages—mirabile dictu!—to make Aristotle jump right off the page at you. As a review of basic Scholastic terminology and theory, as a 'handbook' of philosophical backgrounds to the Commedia, and as an example of source scholarship at its very best, this is a book that every Dantist should read." Paul Spillenger, Speculum

From the Publisher