Aiming to understand an important chapter in the history of political philosophy, located after the reappropriation of the categories of Aristotelian thought and their synthesis with theology in the thirteenth century and the renovation of studies of Roman law in Bologna since the twelfth century, as well as in the passage of late-medieval to the beginning of Renaissance and modern political thought, our investigation turns to the treatise Monarchia by Dante Alighieri, written in Latin between 1311 and 1313. In it, the philosopher Dante defended the submission of the human race as a whole to an universal Monarchy, responsible for leading men to earthly happiness based on the teachings of philosophers, while the Church would have the role of guiding men to heavenly happiness. Two powers, therefore, established by Divine Providence to remedy the situation of men and enable them to reach their two ultimate ends (duo ultima), beatitude in this life and in the afterlife. Above all, we will carry out an internal reading of the treatise and investigate how Dante builds his arguments, creates new concepts and operates appropriations and ruptures in relation to the philosophical, legal and theological thought of his time, which allows us to affirm, with Étienne Gilson, that - if on the one hand, it would be inappropriate to conceive Dante's thought in such a way as to neglect its eminently Christian character - its dualism (intended, always, to achieve a harmonious agreement) between the orders of the Monarchy and the Church, Philosophy and Theology, cannot be compared with any other Christian Aristotelian thought of his time, and indicates, as Claude Lefort points out, a revaluation of philosophy focused on “action” and politics at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
Keywords: Dante, Monarchy, Empire, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Law