Of Natural Instincts and Their Natural Ends: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 115 - 142

Beatrice continues in her discourse about our natural instincts, making the bold claim that they can lead us to our natural ends . . . which are the good, not the catastrophic bad.

Her Scholastic theology is tinted with poetic metaphors in a bold move to explain how the arrow, once shot, can deviate from its preordained track.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the conclusion of Beatrice's first major discourse in PARADISO.

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:39] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 115 - 142. To read along or continue the conversation about this passage, please find the entry for this podcast episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:50] Paraphrasing Beatrice's discourse on instinct, order, and ends.

[06:41] Keeping the instinct to a predetermined end fuzzy.

[09:29] Highlighting Beatrice's poetics in two metaphors: archery and art.

[14:43] Swerving with the lightning.

[16:02] Drawing further conclusions from Beatrice's first major discourse in PARADISO.

[21:05] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto I, lines 115 - 142.