Dante’’s Inferno: Moral Lessons from Hell

This book provides a recipe for healthy moral and personal transformation. Belliotti takes seriously Dante’s deepest yearnings: to guide human well-being; to elevate social and political communities; to remedy the poisons spewed by the seven capital vices; and to celebrate the connections between human self-interest, virtuous living, and spiritual salvation. By closely examining and analyzing five of Dante’s more vivid characters in hell--Piero della Vigna, Brunetto Latini, Farinata degli Uberti, Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti, and Guido da Montefeltro--and extracting the moral lessons Dante intends them to convey, and by conceptually analyzing envy, arrogance, pride, and human flourishing, the author challenges readers to interrogate and refine their modes of living.

Raymond Angelo Belliotti is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy Emeritus. He is the author of 22 books, including Justifying Law; Good Sex; What is the Meaning of Human Life?; Happiness is Overrated; Roman Philosophy and the Good Life;Shakespeare and Philosophy; Jesus or Nietzsche?; and Machiavelli’s Secret.