At last, Beatrice begins to reveal the truth about moon spots: They can’t be understood with natural philosophy (or physics), but only with metaphysics. The universe rains being down onto itself, diversifying “what is” to hold the final unity of “to be” behind everything.
Read MoreBeatrice continues her discussion of moon spots by voicing (and fabricating) an objection Dante might have to her argument against rare and dense material: maybe the dense material is farther back in the moon and reflects dimmer light. To disprove this notion, she proposes an experiment . . . which just happens to support both the incarnation and the trinity from orthodox Christian theology.
Read MoreBeatrice begins her explanation for moon spots (and her destruction of Dante’s explanation) by lofting her vision to the top of the visible universe, then bringing it down to experimental (and experiential) knowledge and the dizzying vertigo of mixed metaphors, all to bring Dante toward the ultimate inexpressible nature of the heavens.
Read MoreOur smartypants pilgrim Dante thinks he has the answer to why the moon has spots. It’s not that shoddy folklore. It’s all about natural philosophy. Problem is, Virgil was all about the folkloric explanation. And Beatrice is having none of it since he’s clearly “submerged” in fallacy, about the way Virgil was.
Read MoreAfter a warning to his readers (or maybe just some of his readers) to go home, Dante ascends into the moon with Beatrice. They enter the diaphanous and aesthetic mystery of the universe standing in the pearl of the heavens . . . and thereby proving the incarnation of Christ (if you believe Dante’s journey really happened).
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