Reading Augustine’s City of God: The Two Cities

Augustine’s City of God is one of the great works of Western literature: philosophy, cultural criticism, theology, and development of Christian doctrines.  At 22 books, and over 1,000 pages (most translations), the City of God is not light reading but is generally considered one of the most masterful works ever produced in the Western philosophical …

Dante’s Inferno, II: Dante and Virgil’s Relationship

In continuing our examination of some of the themes of Dante’s Inferno, we now turn to examine the transformative relationship between Virgil and Dante within the first part of the Divine Comedy.  The theme of guide and relationship runs throughout the Divine Comedy.  Virgil is Dante’s guide through Hell and Purgatory.  Beatrice takes over for …

Dante’s Inferno, I: The Construction of Hell

Dante’s three part epic poem the Divine Comedy, or Commedia, is one of the most influential and dense works of poetic literature in the Western tradition.  Building off of Homer and Virgil, and influencing the likes of Chaucer, Milton, Blake, and Tennyson, as well as bringing to popular consciousness and form the modern Italian language, …

The Great Divide: Political Philosophy, Ancient vs. Modern

The history of political philosophy is often divided between the classics (or ancients) in contradistinction to the moderns.  Political philosophy, from the time of Socrates and Plato, has always been regarded as the queen of the philosophical enterprises because it most pertains to the question of being human.  Hence, political philosophy is necessarily tied to …

Avicenna: Treatise on Love

Avicenna is one of the most important Islamic philosophers of all time.  He is also the most famous of the Islamic neo-Platonists.  He is, like Augustine to the Christian tradition, sometimes considered the “philosopher of love” because of the importance of love in his thought.  We will unpack the basic philosophy of love from his …