Status Updates From The Divine Comedy: Inferno;...

once again, goodbye Mt Purgatório and hello stars of Paradiso

WE IN HELL MOTHERFUCKERSS

Paradiso Canto 13 may be Dante’s sharpest warning to intelligent people. Through Thomas Aquinas and the discussion of King Solomon, he argues that wisdom is not knowing everything. It’s understanding the limits of what you know and resisting the urge to judge too quickly. If knowledge often increases confidence while true wisdom increases humility, how do we tell the difference between expertise and certainty?

Paradiso Canto 12: a Franciscan praises Dominic de Guzmán just as a Dominican praised Francis of Assisi in the previous canto. Both speakers were more willing to critique the failures of their own order than attack the other, a level of humility that feels rare in any age. If loyalty to truth and loyalty to a group come into conflict, which one do we usually protect first?