Brunetto Latini's "Rettorica" and the primacy of moral philosophy in Dante's "Convivio"

• Grant number: 15/14126-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: October 01, 2015
• End date: November 09, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Literatures
• Principal Investigator: João Adolfo Hansen
• Grantee: Emanuel França de Brito
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/14000-0 - The Rettorica by Brunetto Latini: bibliographical research, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Considering Dante Alighieri's rethorical-grammatical education, under Brunetto Latini's directions, this study aims at understanding in what way a specific aspect of Dante's thinking could have derived from Brunetto when the latter expresses, in the "Rettorica" and in the "Tresor", the Rethorical art as the center of the intelectual human activities. This aspect is a statement about the Moral Phylosophy as the most important human science (DANTE, "Convivio" II xiv 14), in direct opposition to what Brunetto tries to establish throughout his treatises. Even more than Dante's "inventio", this theme can derive from Arabic and Latin authorities, the analysis of other acts of the rethorical structure employed by Brunetto can indicate if the adoption of the comment format ("dispositio") and the deliberate use of the Florentine vulgar as a new language of culture ("elocutio") could have guided the poet in his own placement in favour of the primacy of Ethics. The procedure of research will establish itself from the translation of the "Rettorica" (unpublished in Portuguese), in order to observe the reading that Brunetto does from his main source, the "De inventione" by Cicero. In order to contribute to the study of the authorities emulated by Dante, this first stage will serve as methodological basis to the final discussion that will be presented, which is an analysis of the statements made and the partial acceptance of such discourse in Dante.