Magyar Filozófiai Szemle, 2021
2021 / 2. szám - Márton Kaposi: Visions of the Secular State and of the Earthly Paradise in Dante’s Perspective
VISIONS OF THE SECULAR STATE AND OF THE EARTHLY PARADISE ... 115 follows that the good of mankind is dear to him above all else. Who doubts that the monarch is most strongly disposed to the working of justice [...]?” (Dante 1996b. 19.) Free people living in peace and surrounded by an atmosphere of love can develop their intellectual and moral virtues, which only helps ensure that they will consistently have the opportunity to attain happiness in this world, and which even improves their chances of attaining happiness in the afterlife. An important element to Dante’s concept of the state - one he inherited from classical antiquity - is that he believes politics go hand in hand with paideia, the positive role that a citizen - who combines his free will with the knowledge he has acquired - plays in shaping society, enjoying his individual happiness as the fruit of his wisdom but also always willing to work in harmony with others, in both theory and practice, in order to promote social progress. While Dante - quite naturally - did not value the concept of paideia quite as highly as the free Greeks, he did consider it essential that the citizens of the ideal state do not merely engage in whatever enriches their own souls but they should also take part in the growth and development of society. It is quite understandable that Dante does not primarily see happiness in this life, emerging from optimal social relations, as an end in itself or as a value of itself, but, as it is widely known, as only a secondary purpose to a greater end; still, he emphasises that its value as an instrument is not to be ignored (Ogor 1993. 91-104; Leeker 1993. 120-131). That creating world peace requires the cooperation of the entirety of humankind is fairly obvious; however, Dante also tries to make his readers grasp that while peace is indeed a fundamental condition, the cooperation of the multitude also plays a decisive role in the exercise of power. This is even more obvious in the matter of political affairs and taking things further, in the growth and development of society. While the emperor plays a key role in creating the ideal monarchy, the multitude of citizens also have a role to play if the ideal society is indeed to become reality. The emperor as the supreme efficient cause can rely on the multitude as his single most important instrument; yet the general population is itself one of the efficient causes - one of the maintainers and operators - of a society of higher order. And, indeed, it is mainly this dual role with which the general population contributes to ensuring that nature as it exists and the world order (the sublunary world, civitas terrena, which also includes society) continues to operate as originally ordained, even if subject to certain minor changes. As Dante sees it, just as a craftsman would never achieve artistic perfection if he aimed only at the final form and paid no heed to the means by which that form was to be achieved, so too nature would fail if it aimed only at the universal form of divine likeness in the universe, yet neglected the means to achieve it; but nature is never less than perfect, since it is the work of divine intelligence: therefore it wills all the means through which it achieves the fulfilling of its intention. Since the goal of the human race is