Context 

This case study is an example of my reasoning and written communication.  I created this work recently for my CLST/PHIL 211 class to argue how best to respond to a situation in an ethical manner.  This work makes me proud because it inspired me to think critically about my stance on ethical situations.  It demonstrates my ability to reason and lead a healthy life inspired by my values.  Ethics translates into my life and my values as a human being and a caring person.  It is important to me to have ethical values in my life and know that I am a good person.

The primary values that motivate Alice are: individuality, excitement, freedom, family security, justice and courage.

Alice’s love of travel is evidence of a free spirit that wants to experience the world. Her choice of Peru rather than the more cosmopolitan countries of Europe display an individuality that is looking for more than just the usual tourist attractions. That she lodged “for a few nights in other people’s homes” informs us that she is not someone who seeks out the safety of hotels but wants to experience the excitement of living with real people. It may be the case that she could not afford hotels, but lodging alone for a single girl in the homes of acquaintances of strangers can sometimes be daunting.

Her relationship with her brother is a demonstration that family security is an important value for Alice. She relied on her brother to clean and rent her place while she was traveling, and later secured for him an apartment when she assumed her new role as a property manager. Later, when her brother was evicted, her anger over his treatment was instrumental in galvanizing her action against her employer.

Her values of justice and courage were evident when she exposed the business model of her employers owing to their displacement of people like her brother in order to maximize their profits. It took courage to do so because it meant sacrificing her job and probably a future job in a field in which she was comfortable and confident.

I do not, however, think these values played a central role in her decision to expose her employers. In fact, I will argue that her primary values were undermined by the unresolved contradictions in her thoughts and behavior. 

A closer look at the trajectory of Alice’s life shows that her primary values of freedom, excitement, individuality and family security were being enabled and ultimately subsidized by her unwitting landlord. Subletting an apartment without informing your landlord is a breach of the BC Landlord Tenant Agreement. Rental agreements have a function – an end, a telos- to safeguard both the renter and the landlord. Its purpose cannot be arbitrarily changed by one of the parties. To do so is a subversion of justice which, among other things, is a respect for property and a fulfillment of obligations. But Alice’s notion of justice is undefined. She is more interested in relating it to her own self-interest and is willing, like Thrasymachus in his debate with Socrates, to trifle with the concept of justice so that it aligns with her own ethical egoism. That, however, does not seem to stop her from presenting herself as an advocate for social justice. 

This hardly seems like a great crime, but as Aristotle reminds us: “a small mistake made at the beginning is equal to all the mistakes made in the rest of the business” (Aristotle 187). In Alice’s case Aristotle is right. Using a popular web service for acquiring short term tenants was putting her landlord’s apartment in jeopardy. Landlords, in most cases, thoroughly vet their prospective tenants in order to protect their property from damage. There is no indication that either Alice or her brother was doing that. Also, inviting her brother to partake in her scheme was encouraging him to be part of a corrupt arrangement rather than pursuing her primary value of family security.

Again, almost all of these primary values were buttressed by subterfuge and her ability to manipulate circumstances to her advantage (using her strong written and verbal communication skills). She was even able to place her brother in an apartment in the building she managed. In the tight rental market of Vancouver, nepotism is not exactly serving the justice of the common good.

Her decision to expose the business model of her employer did not follow naturally from her values. Her protest on behalf of justice and the courage to do so were crude caricatures of her values. In fact, her employer was simply following, albeit on a larger scale, a similar business model she had employed when she was renting and subletting her apartment near Jericho Beach.

All along she has merely willed her own desires and appetites. Indeed, she has profited through her skills in manipulating others. Certainly she was aware of what she was doing because the charges she brought against her employer could have been turned against her. She has managed, however, to hide this from herself by constructing rationalizations for her behavior: helping her brother, expressing her freedom and individuality through travel etc.

The pain she finally felt was not so much from an outraged sense of justice concerning her community, but was, rather, guilt over the rationalization of her behavior combined with revenge against her brother’s eviction; and her courage was little more than a sham moralistic crusade that was accompanied by the pleasant frisson of being a whistle blower.

To bridge the gap between her view of herself and reality, Alice should have considered the values of self-respect, honesty and wisdom. It is the irony of Alice’s life that her attempt to follow her values was the chief source of her suffering. Like Protagoras in his challenge to Socrates, she deceived herself into thinking that her values (and virtues) did not need to be unified and that they were immune from the influence of her private life. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, however, remind us that values are only conditionally good. We cannot pick and choose values as if we were picking our preferred foods in a cafeteria; rather there is a deep bond that links all primary values together.

Socrates encourages us to pursue values as part of a quest which will help us to see that these values are “not a mere collection of independent worthwhile things for human beings to possess”(John Cooper 55). but rather a way to wisdom. Values are not distinct from each other; one cannot have one without the others; one should aim at value (or virtue), not values (and virtues). Plato reminds us of the unity within ourselves and enjoins to bring our reason, our spirit and our appetites into harmony. And Aristotle offers the practical advice that our values should not simply be disengaged moral concepts or choices, but, rather, must work in unison with our non-rational feelings, desires and emotions which must be put in order by good habits (resulting in honesty and self-respect).

In other words, Alice needs to understand that her values cannot be separated from her personal behavior. The values of wisdom, honesty and self-respect would play a salutary role in helping her to integrate her initial primary values into her everyday life.

Those values and virtues would have encouraged her to make the same decision but it would have been done for the right reason, that is, for the sake of the common good rather than been propelled by personal faults.

Works Cited

Aristotle, Ernest Barker Sir, and R. F. Stalley. Politics, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998.

Cooper, John M., Pursuits of Wisdom: Six Ways of Life in Ancient Philosophy from Socrates to Plotinus, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2012.

Context

I created this work for an Italian Studies class earlier this semester.  It talks about the struggles and criticism that artists and writers faced in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.  This essay conveys my ability to understand and analysis my interpretation of the works I read, and use it to create an essay. The topic of this essay is relevant to my passions for traveling, art and the classics.  I enjoyed writing this essay because I was fascinated by what I was writing about.  I chose this essay to display due to the fact that it reflects not only my academic achievements but also my love for Italy’s artists and writers of this time.  This ties in with my personal life because all the art works that I talk about I have seen in museums.

The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries brought rise to several masterpieces of art and literature.  The early renaissance began with the destruction and turmoil of the Black Death, the plague that nearly wiped out Europe.  This tragedy inspired many artists such as Duccio, Giotto, and Lorenzetti, and literary geniuses like Petrarch, Dante, and Boccaccio. These masters of the arts gave voice to many forms of storytelling that we cherish to this day.  Duccio and Giotto focused their paintings on  religious works which were very common at this time.  However, Lorenzetti painted a more secular view depicting everyday life and government, something that was considered very controversial. Poets like Dante and Petrarch reacted to the corruption that power and money brought. Their works showed just how much resentment they held towards people that transformed the once magnificent Florence into a war zone. Boccaccio on the other hand was horrified by the Bubonic Plague and wrote a comedy complete with dark humour.

A popular theme in art in the early renaissance was the decent of the “Divine” to a more human like space by showing human emotions and expressions like suffering and love. This was the technique the artists used to tell stories through their paintings.  Duccio’s Maestà in the Muso Dell’Opera nella Duamo Siena is one of the most transparent examples of storytelling in art at this time. It is a magnificent double sided pice of work that represents a throne.  On the front there is  the image of the Madonna and child, and surrounding are scenes of Christ’s childhood and Mary’s life. On the back Duccio painted the Passions of Christ resembling a modern day storyboard.  It is a very beautiful representation of how the artist viewed Mary and Jesus. Painting them on a throne surrounded by angles he is portraying them as divine, but when you look at the scenes of Mary’s life, Jesus’ childhood and the Passions of Christ, Duccio is representing just how human Jesus really was.

Another humanist view is given to us by Giotto, who in many of his works references Greek and Roman mythology.  His Madonna and Child depicts a very human Mary and Jesus, something that people of the fourteenth century could relate to.  The human rendition of the Holy Family carried over into most of Giotto’s works.  In the scenes from “The Life of Jesus” in the Chapel in Padua all the images portray Mary and Jesus in a contemporary setting. By illustrating them in this light people viewing these masterpieces were able to understand that even though Jesus lived many centuries ago he is still relevant. The images fill an entire room in the chapel and tell the story of  the life of Joachim, Mary, and Jesus. Furthermore, Giotto, is a master of illustrating human emotions.  In the scene of Jesus’ birth and death there seams to be a knowing between Mary and Jesus, an understanding of what is to come and why it must happen.  This was very controversial to the church because these works humanized Jesus, someone who before this time was always shown in his divinity. Giotto’s “Last Judgment” shows the viewer just how dramatic and intense his paintings are. It is an entire wall with Jesus as the main focal point sitting on a throne in front of a gold backdrop.  This is one of the few works by Giotto where Christ appears more divine than human; he is surrounded by the apostles and above him are the angles, below we can see the people who are damed and saved. The image is telling the story of what Giotto believes will happen on Judgement day. 

In the early renaissance it was very unusual of secular art to play such an important role in the community.  Despite this opinion, Lorenzetti’s The Allegory of Good and Bad Government became a vital pice of work.  It was featured in City Hall to remind authorities of the importance of doing their jobs well and justly.  It effectively tells the story of what happens with good and bad government, thus helping to word off corruption.

Besides the wealth and art that came out of the fourteenth century the written word contributed just as much. Similar to the artist the authors of this time we humanists referencing the Classical Greek and Roman texts, concepts and heroes as well as Christian Sources.  Petrarch used his knowledge of the classical arts and mythology to create the sonnet, which is an essential form of poetic storytelling.  His life began in exile in Avignon. In his writing he created a discourse with the classical orators such as Cicero, acknowledging him as a forbearer of much humanist writing. However unlike many of his Florentine contemporaries, Petrarch travelled throughout his life, thus informing his work with a more nuanced world view.

Like Petrarch, Dante also personally experienced the corruption of the Florentine government which influenced his later writings. His earliest achievement, Vita Nuova is an autobiographical text which explores his  own open ended story of courtly love. His love interest Beatrice, is featured as a beacon of light who represents virtue and youth.  The book reflects the circle of life with its themes illustrating Dante’s life from infancy, adolescence, adulthood, old age and rebirth in new love. But perhaps his most infamous and reactionary accomplishment is The Divine Comedy. This three part masterpiece conicals Dante’s guided journey of the afterlife. Dante is accompanied by Virgil on a journey through Purgatorio, Paradiso, and Inferno where he sees the seven layers of Hell and the popes of his time that had been damned.  The comedy criticizes the corruption of the government and people in power at this time.

The Divine Comedy made a permanent mark as a main stay of renascence literature and figures Dante as a central voice of his time.  Its serious and damning nature prompted responses such as Boccaccio’s The Decameron—the antidote to The Divine Comedy. Boccaccio, unlike his contemporaries , was not influenced by the corruption in government, but rather the turmoil and fear that accompanied the Black Plague.  The Decameron is a collection of 100 stories told in a framework, he writes about seven woman and three men that flee the black death and run away to a country home.  The stories that these characters tell are full of love, lust, and dark hummer, which placed women in an undignified light. During this period women were not supposed to be seen in way that is improper, nonetheless Boccaccio thought it would make for a good story which it inevitably did.

The early renascence was a time where many masters of the arts branched away from tradition in the interest of telling stories though their works.  Not only did artists, and poets use their art form to tell stories, but troubadours would travel around singing songs and telling poems usually about courtly love.  Architecture and preaching coincidentally were also forms storytelling, St. Frances and the Dominicans would travel around telling stories about how the church has become corrupt and how to rebuild it. The purpose several of these humanists was to inform, inspire religious fervour, and to remind, government officials of effects of corruption documented in Lorenzetti’s Allegory of Good and Bad Government.  Furthermore, to warn people of what would happen if they led terrible lives, as depicted in frescoes of hell as well as Dante’s Inferno.  There seamed to be forms of resistance to current status quo,  and there began to be works of art and literature that people could understand.  Authors were now writing in the vernacular instead of Latin and artists were portraying their subjects in a more human manor.  With all these new ideas of the way we should view these art forms, the arts were reborn, into a new era, we call the renascence.