Dante fabbro della lingua - Massimo Cacciari e Andrea Moro sul "De vulgari eloquentia"

700 Years of Dante - Massimo Cacciari and Andrea Moro Converse on "De Vulgari Eloquentia". September 14, 2021. M. Cacciari and A. Moro discuss Dante Alighieri's "De Vulgari Eloquentia." This is a unique opportunity to reflect on the problem of language through the considerations of one of the most distinguished philosophers and one of the most distinguished linguists of our time, respectively. What is the origin of language, or rather, of the languages ​​we speak? Has there ever been a first language, an original language from which we later distanced ourselves, falling into the "Babel of languages"? And then, what is the function of language, what purpose does it serve? What is the relationship between thought and language, or between our thinking and our speaking? These, which were all Dante's problems, are also the same problems facing the people of our time. The dialogue between M. Cacciari and A. Moro focuses primarily on one question: what if Dante, starting with "De Vulgari Eloquentia," had heretically understood and then asserted that an original language, Hebrew, from which the "Babel of Languages" subsequently arose, never existed, and that instead, in the beginning, there was the "forma locutionis," the matrix, the ability to speak all languages, from which the various historical natural languages, most of which still survive, subsequently arose? If so, we would already have in Dante very modern traces of those findings that contemporary linguistics has long focused on. But is this really the case? The Almo Collegio Borromeo, in collaboration with the cultural association Convivio and the Municipality of Pavia, is proposing a series of four meetings on Dante, starting today, Tuesday, September 14, to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of the Supreme Poet. The first meeting of the Dante series begins at 9:00 PM with a reflection on language, starting with "De Vulgari Eloquentia," a philosophical and doctrinal work dedicated by Dante to a specific theme: language, and therefore rhetorical structures and literature. Professor Andrea Moro, Full Professor of General Linguistics at the IUSS School of Advanced Studies, will discuss the topic with philosopher Massimo Cacciari.