Read and annotate this scholarly article about Crime and Dante's Inferno. Write a thesis statement that clearly articulates a plan to debunk the underlying assumption of this article.
12 Comments
Kadence Lanier
4/30/2016 03:41:46 pm
While Chevigny claims that the difference between Dante's grading of crime and the contemporary grading of crime is constructed socially through ethical concerns, political milieu, and the law and crime around him, he does not take into account the significance that Dante's religion may have on his grading of sin.
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Samantha Schroeder
4/30/2016 05:29:49 pm
With his claim that "contemporary understanding of intent and its allied concepts is at best out of focus," and die-hard belief in Dante's grading of sin and crime, Chevigny fails to see that protection of individuals from criminals is morally more important than how "malicious" and "culpable" a crime is.
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Holli Heinen
4/30/2016 07:00:11 pm
Chevigny seems to understand the truth behind Dante's writing and makes a simple assertion that Dante's primary source of "grading was medieval theology and philosophy about ethics". As he points out the differences in our modern world compared to Dante's time however, he does not take into account that Dante's background may be a factor of his grading system along with the well thought out morality of Dante's grading, rather than his appointment by crimes worthy of blame. So although Chevigny annotated Dante's Inferno thoroughly, he still missed major key points that needed to be discussed whether or not they have been solved today.
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Dallas Evernden
5/1/2016 12:10:37 pm
"Why does our law not take betrayal of trust as seriously as social harm?" (Chevigny 791). Chevigny explains that today's laws are not coherent with that of Dante's thoughts. In Dante's time, "the gravity of a crime lay solely on the intention of those who are committing the crime" (Chevigny 791). Although it may seem that in today's society, any crime involving harm to another is worse than betraying ones trust, in Dante's eyes, the mere thought of betraying one close to you is of larger sin than that of accidental harm.
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jon
5/2/2016 12:55:32 pm
Basically Chevigny is saying that todays sins don't coincide well with the different levels of Dante's hell. Dante's hell would be much harder on the way of peoples standards today. All people have their own minds and decide to punish in away they think it is suitable to their sin.
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Taylor Briann Holden
5/2/2016 01:06:10 pm
Although Chevigny states that "...for Dante, crimes of betrayal were the most serious not only because they required the most deliberate exercise of free will, but also because they did the most damage to the ethical net of obligations in society..." he failed to realize the seriousness Dante's past, religion, and pride may have had to do with his grading system.
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Jarred Kasper
5/2/2016 01:58:07 pm
Although Chevigny expresses through his writing how Dante's Inferno is like a "medevil commentary on criminal culpability" this is rarely shown in such detail and interest in the crimes Chevigny states. We are shown throughout the inferno how the sins people commit influence their punishment in hell.
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Kylee Sneve
5/2/2016 02:12:37 pm
Although Paul Chevigny's article states that "The Inferno bears an intriguing relation to contemporary criminal law jurisprudence," he thinks that the grading of crimes depends on the minds of the people, rather than the crime itself. The nature of the crimes in Dante is quite interesting. In my eyes, the sinners that are at the bottom of Hell don't have a brutal enough punishment as they should. All in all, Hell is a rank of sins.
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Ashley Wegner
5/2/2016 03:11:43 pm
Chevigny spends a lot of time describing how Dante ranks sins and comparing how they parallel to that of today. In his article, though he seems well read and takes extensive notes upon the subject, he seems to misplace Dante's background, despite describing it, failing to see how his past and exile may have affected his decisions in the rankings of Hell.
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Layne Harris
5/2/2016 09:43:27 pm
Although Chevigny has a firm understanding of the basis of Christianity and sin in contemporary law, he fails to take into account the physical act of violence against another person, regardless of 'akrasia'. The fact that the "actual harm of the crime, as distinct from the harm intended, should not affect its gravity" in the World of Dante's Inferno is in-itself based on the fallacious idea that the act of violence is independent from the intent: if you only thought about killing someone, and didn't actually do it, why would you be charged for murder?
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Emily Groseclose
5/2/2016 09:59:27 pm
Chevigny claims that The Inferno "raises the question why our law does not take betrayal of trust more seriously as a social harm," but what he doesn't take into account is the fact that crime and sin are not the same. Crime is punishable by law (which is man-made) and only lasts a certain amount of time, while sin damns you to suffering for all eternity. Crime is done unto others and is punished because one hurts another. Sin, however, has many different parts that take into account all the possible things one did (or didn't do) to oneself or another during their lifetime. Chevigny doesn't really take this into account and talks as though real life and Hell are similar.
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Connor Steiger
5/3/2016 10:27:03 am
Chevigny is pretty much saying that crimes back then are way different in Dante's time versus today's crime. One of them that does not truly match would be bullying physically and internet. The more the technology advances the less and less Dante's punishment does not fit.
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