MSA028: Inferno, Class 9

Week 9: Where we stop and notice that the Medieval mind is not modern. And just as the organization of Hell was Aristotlean so too is the nature of physics and philosophy. As Virgil and Dante discuss the purpose and place of everything in the world, Prof. Corey reminds us that in their model the sun is Happy to go around the earth, and the rock is Happy to fall to the ground with a thud, and the soul is Happy to go toward the God who made it. Thus choosing to chart a different path is the essence of sin. And in the Happiness of the motion of the spheres both the zodiac and astronomy, even as seen from the pit of Hell, could be used to tell the time of night. And we are reminded that the Harrowing of Hell has had the metaphysical effect of changing the entire landscape, making a highway out of a sheer fall.