Ethical Dilemma Essay

by | Mar 14, 2020 | ethics

Think of an ethical dilemma that you have faced or think you may be faced with in the future. If you are not comfortable addressing a dilemma you have faced or may face, you are welcome to explore a dilemma that has appeared in the news, a book, a movie, etc. (For example, one of my previous students explored the dilemma in the movie My Sister’s Keeper). Write an essay using the following questions to guide your paper.

  1. What are the facts of the ethical dilemma that you are discussing?
  2. What are the different options you can choose?
  3. How might different ethical approaches guide you in your decision making?
  4. Of the approaches that fit you best (egoism, utilitarianism, common good and so on) which approaches do you find most relevant to the situation and how might they guide you?
  5. What is the role of respect, responsibility, integrity, competence, and concern on your decision making?
  6. What role do the 6 core values of the University (justice, equality, responsibility, integrity, respect and altruism) play in your decision making process.
  7. Summarize your decision.
  8. Consider your decision in retrospect. What worked well? What worked poorly? What would you do in the future if you found yourself with the same dilemma?
  • The paper must be at least 750 words.
  • You should be sure to cover as many of the questions above as possible (if necessary, print out your essay and highlight the portions of your paper that specifically address each of the questions above to insure that you are on the right track).
  • Font should be Times New Roman (12 point font) and double-spaced.
  • If references are used, they must be cited using APA or MLA style.
    Other tips for success:
    -Is your essay well organized?
    -Is the thesis clear and does it appear towards the bottom of your introductory paragraph (it is usually the last sentence in an introductory paragraph)?
    -Does each topic sentence clearly articulate the content of the entire paragraph (a topic sentence is generally the first sentence of every paragraph)?
    -Does the essay contain any errors? (Again, it is best to print out a copy of your essay and check for spelling and grammar mistakes…please always remember that your word processor will not catch everything)
    You must submit this essay to the Chalk and Wire and Turnitin links. It will be graded in Turnitin, as 100 points are assigned to that. The other 20 points comes from simply submitting it to Chalk & Wire.

Sample Solution

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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