DANTE “SOCIOLOGO” DEL MODERNO. AUTONOMIA E RICOMPOSIZIONE DEL SOGGETTO PER UNA GENEALOGIA ALTERNATIVA DEL PRESENTE1

Abstract

In this paper, we will explore the possibility of tracing a different version of the beginning of modernity throughout Dante’s works. In opposition to the theological-political devices of secularisation, Dante provides us with opportunities to reframe the vision of modern society, neither separating nor hierarchising the different dimensions of the human, but recomposing heaven and earth, soul and body, thought and action. Dante’s Purgatory testifies to the overcoming of the binary structure of medieval society and reflects the rise of a new civilization under the banner of the values and interests of the nascent bourgeoisie. The Earthly Paradise becomes the figure of a human happiness that can be drawn hic et nunc in the earthly world. It helps to create an alternative to the tendency to separate life into two zones of different values, of which the material and worldly one is morally and ontologically subordinate to the spiritual one.