standard for stages in hell

[juliekim]

We talked about the 9 stages of hell during class. I thought sins were all just the same sins, and no sin is bigger than another. If two things are offensive to God, they are both equally offensive. But Dante apparently had a certain standard in mind in order to categorize different sins into okay ones and really terrible ones.

So what do you think that criteria was? What made him think that betrayers were worse than adulterers or gluttons? I think it depends on how much harm that particular sin has on other people.

[sageda]

I think Dante values kinship and that's why betrayal in the form of killing a family member is seen as pure evil. I believe that Christianity emphasizes family values so the act of killing a brother for no reason other than out of contempt would be really bad.

And I disagree that all sins are the same. There are of course minor sins and there are major sins. It depends on how much harm it does to other people/yourself. A white lie can't be the equivalent of murder or rape.

[franicaza95]

i think the same as you sins are all sins because they all go against the "right path" that god wants to put as in! but yea likr you said i think it really just depends on the sin to really be categorized the way dante does.

[RegXD]

i think it would be similar towards a court of justice where the judge will based on crime and sentence to suitable punishment for the criminal. Which is logical but sometimes not moral. But i think he is just trying express his feeling and thoughts when he imagine about how hell would be and what was in it. But i also think that he is just thinking it from a logical stand point because i believe during the time period where Dante was alive, there are possible crimes that match the category of what dante would say the levels of hell. and those people who committed sins would go to specific level of hell as their punishment.

[sang]

I think that it was a societal impact that shaped Dante's critieria for the stages in hell. Obviously, adultery and gluttony is both sinful according to the bible. But from a societal view, adultery may have seemed a bit worse than gluttony. So, perhaps the society had a lot of impact on Dante. But that's just a conjecture.

[seongrae]

I think it was determined by his perception that betrayers was the worst sin that human can commit. So from the society at that time, he had a certain standard in his mind from the okay sins to the worst sins. Also his religion played a big role in the selected the standard of sins that no one should harm others.

[edward08]

sins are sins and and what bad things you do will be always bad, no matter what the standard is if something is bad it is in the negative side. also it depended on dantes surrounding and social standard that shaped his criteria

[joannekim]

I also agree that sins are all same because they go against the God and result in hell anyway. However, Dante obviously believed some sins are worse than others that there are different stages of hell. I think the society he lived in impacted his thinking the most. For example, lust and adultery are at level 2 and considered less than glutton or wrathful. I think it is categorized like that because there were much romance and love affairs during that time. Adultery seemed to be common (many famous people committed it) that it was not viewed negatively much or punished harshly.

[ginayang]

I disagree. I think that there are different levels of sin. I mean how can murder be the same as lying? So as you said, the criteria is on how much harm the sin has on others. Also, I think that Dante thought that betrayers were worse than adulterers or gluttons because they make the person affected tear their heart out and have no hope for the future.

[jessicashim2013]

All sins are against God but I still agree with Dante that there are some sins worse than the other. We all do something sinful but it all depends on what it was and the situation we were in doing so. I guess the standard Dante set up was violence and close relationships I assume that people valued relationships between each other during that period. Therefore betraying was the worst sin.

[kevin]

I think the standard for our sins is based on the Bible. I believe that under God's rule, he has rules of his kingdom and there are different types of sins. All the thing would be included in Bible and I think that one sin can be sinner than other.

[anica]

I think that all sins are bad, but in God's mind, there are certain levels which have a worse impact that others.

[cathysjun]

I think he decided from his personal experiences and personal values. I think he put betrayers worse than adulterers because in his time period adultery was common.

[jessicak016]

I think that his criteria was based on how the society viewed the sins. According to the hell hierarchy, being a heretic is a worser sin than being lustful and having a lot of affairs. During that time, Christianity was a state religion and non-Christians were viewed as sinful and not fit to belong to the society Dante lived in.
So the society might have viewed betrayers worse than lustful because lustful crimes were commited many more times than betraying.

[joon]

It could be that Dante was influenced by his moral values and his philosophy. His way of thinking was probably affected by his society's values and the works of previous philosophers as well. Also, since it was mentioned that Dante praised Julius Caesar as the perfect example of a good ruler, he could have seen betrayal as the worst sin because one of his idols/mentors was a victim of betrayal. I agree with your theory that the sins may have been categorized according to its harmfulness.