Himmelsdisko: Anmerkungen zum Dante von Kurt Flasch

Abstract

AbstractKurt Flash is a renowned historian of medieval philosophy with a profound knowledge of poetry. In 2011, he presented an ambitious, new prose translation of Dante’s Commedia into modern German, which he concluded with a voluminous and, at the same time, provocative »invitation to read Dante «. Though in a somewhat simplified manner, Flasch understands his own interpretation of the Commedia as taking part in the tradition of Erich Auerbach’s famous »Dante as poet of the secular world«. Dante’s epic of the afterlife is read, contrary to the current understanding of themMiddle ages, as product of a culture in the process of secularization: Flasch sees the Commedia as philosophical poetry aiming at the implementation of political ethics. Flasch views Dante as promoting the self-empowerment of man - the major point of reference is an Aristotelian philosophy that skips over the Christian scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas for the sake of thinkers like Averroes, who disconnect philosophical knowledge and religious transcendence. As critic of Dante, Flasch stands in contrast to current trends in Dante scholarship, which - for good reason - focus more on the complex interplay of theological truth and fiction than on a political message.