The examination of the virtue of faith for Dante

Abstract

In canto XXIV of Paradise, Dante is called to answer a series of questions about the virtue of faith. The purpose of this article is - first - to show what is the logical structure that underlies the conception of the Christian belief present in the canto in question, - second - to highlight that the poet's responses are perfectly in line with the reflections of the scholastics (particularly Thomas Aquinas). The fact that Dante distinguishes between the absolute certainty of supernatural faith and the doubt of scientific investigation, can be seen as a rejection of the argumentative doctrine of scholasticism only if the epistemological status that medieval theologians confer on the science of faith is misunderstood.