Dante Thought

Dante Alighieri Built up the independence of human spirit and the dignity of human morality by the careful investigation and the keen reflection of the social changes of the Western Europe in late Midlle Ages, which changes the human worship of the God, the Paradise and the secular world. Dante's thought represents the transition of the Western Europe from human mind imprisonment to spirit freedom. This thesis attemps to make an explorative study of Dante's thought based on the materials about Dante collected so far and the latest research results obtained from macroscopic observation.Dante's thought is the theoretical elaboration of man and God, human mind and the changes of the Western Europe appeared with the conflicts between the Pope and the monarchs and the decline of Christianity in late Middle Ages. Dante's thought evolves with the progress of the Western Europe and formed a system of theological doctrines with man as the central importance in the universe quite different from Christianity. The philosophical doctrines covers the secular life, the soul theory, view of life from man and some immature ideas as well, in which Dante emphasizes on human ration, the dignity of human morality, the value and the independence of human spirit. Meanwhile, Dante severely attacks the corruption brought with early capitalism, and the obscurantism and asceticism by Christian church that man should hold faith in God and that the souls of the dead should enter the paradise if he behaves well in the secular world with humanism initially bred in it.There are characteristics in Dante's thought from Dante's focus on man and the secular world in that Dante expresses his repentance from his heart and his severe criticism of human mind and social behaviour in the secular world by applying ancient Greek and Roman cultures as tools in understanding the secular world and the Western society of the time, that Dante has sharp criticism by the study of the "Bible" and related church documents against church corruption, that Dante expresses the sense of exploration by approving of the self-salvation and the independence of human spirit and the value of human dignity. Dante also shows objectiveness and randomness in picking up the topics for consideration and in expressing his ideas from different angles. The four aspects coordinate well with each other because they reflcet the early humanism and the capitalist views of the Western Europe in late Middle Ages.Dante's thought has significant influence on modern humanism and capitalism in that it not only rushes out the spiritual fence long-established by Christian church and preliaminarily disarms Christian theology over human mind, and it pushes forward modem culture and science and opens the door to the modern times of the Western Europe, but that it changes the way and the old-fashioned concept people see the world from scholasticism based on Christian theology. The significant influence of Dante's thought on Renaissance and Reformatiom marks its leading position in early capitalistic thought of the Western world, and it thus has long-lasting influence on world history and culture. However, Dante's thought is not a mature system against the Christian theology because of the ambiguities and self-contradictions in it, which have negative influence on humanism and early capitalism of the Western Europe to some extent.In summary, Dante's thought is, on one hand, the integration of the Western Europe and human mind in late Middle Ages, and the prospect of modern times. On the other hand, it is not a mature theoretical system and it should, therefore, neither be seen single-handedly as "the revolution in thought" because of its positive aspects, nor should it be "the integrity of the old times" because of its negative aspects, but that it should be studied and assessed on scientifically.