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Work #304 · Mid (early years of exile, preceding the Comedy)

Convivio

Dante Alighieri
1304-07 (composed during the early years of Dante's exile from Florence; unfinished — four of fifteen planned books completed) · Tuscan Italian
Philosophical-poetic treatise (15 planned books; 4 completed) · Medieval Italian vernacular philosophy

A "banquet" of philosophical knowledge in vernacular Italian — Dante's 1304-07 unfinished prosimetric work, the major early vernacular philosophical text

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Convivio (Mid (early years of exile, preceding the Comedy))
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Convivio

The medieval philosophical-historical time; the autobiographical time of Dante's early exile.

Space

Convivio

The Italian intellectual-political space of the early fourteenth century.

Matter

Convivio

Embodied human life as the substrate of philosophical inquiry.

Observer

Convivio

The philosophical Dante — embodied, plural, engaged with vernacular philosophical tradition.

Energy

Convivio

The intellectual energies of philosophical inquiry and vernacular cultural development.

Information

Convivio

The philosophical tradition transmitted into vernacular Italian.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Convivio

The Convivio's unfinished state — only four of fifteen planned books — leaves the work's systematic philosophical ambitions partial. Dante abandoned it to begin the Divine Comedy. The relation between the Convivio's philosophical-Aristotelian framework and the Comedy's theological-poetic vision has been a continuing scholarly question. The Convivio's vernacular-Italian project shaped the Italian literary tradition decisively.