Early in their journey, Dante asks Virgil to explain how human sin came about-because of nature or because of human will? It’s a debated subject, after all: “Some place the cause in stars, some here below.” Virgil quickly dismisses the idea that the problem of sin can simply be assigned to nature, saying, “You, living there, derive the cause of all / straight from the stars alone, as if, alone, / these made all move in mere necessity.” It’s worth noting that in referring to the “necessity” of the “stars,” Virgil isn’t speaking simply of astrology or superstition but of the idea that human beings are naturally disposed to behave in certain ways. By showing how human beings can be trained not only to reject sin and desire Heaven but to choose Heaven for themselves, Dante argues that human will is a gift that operates most freely when it is closely aligned with God’s will.ĭante characterizes sin as a matter of free will rather than something predetermined. Not only can people choose to reject sin-proper spiritual alignment can also train a person to actively desire goodness. While natural inclination can certainly be a factor, human beings are endowed with a rational will and therefore with the ability to fight against their inclinations and to pursue holiness instead of sin.
Early in the poem, however, Virgil rejects the idea that nature, or any form of abstract determinism (the idea that human actions are determined by something outside of the human will), can be blamed for sin. Dante doesn’t assume that his readers will understand this notion: by including a discussion of the subject between himself and Virgil, he suggests that attributing human sin to “the stars,” or to nature, was not uncommon in his day.
A recurrent subject in Purgatorio is the role of the human will in sin.
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