Philosophy Now Forum

WanderingLands wrote:

Melchior wrote: Why is it that our law is based on Roman Law, that everything we call 'civilization' harkens back to Rome, yet we persist on vilifying them? I am SICK of it!

They may have had good ideas about government, but that doesn't escape them from corruption and urge for power. And no, everything about civilization does not go back to Rome; there were many empires and kingdoms before Rome.

Yes, but very little of their influence is felt today. Everything was filtered through Rome.

I was watching a clip comparing Plato and Aristotle and was wondering which side Chomsky is on.

Chomsky is Platonic. Two things Plato is known for is abstraction and dialogue. Aristotle is known for thinking structurally and that the world is known through experience. Plato sees the world as an abstraction.

Stupidity is an abstraction. Chomsky uses a lot of dialogue to get his point across. Most times the dialogue is one-sided and petty, often to get a rise out of us. It is rarely constructive. It does get us thinking but it seems awfully repetitive. Chomsky is monotonic in speech. Perhaps Plato was also.

Civilization has developed through experience, which includes doing stupid things. If only Chomsky knew that.

Melchior wrote:Yes, but very little of their influence is felt today. Everything was filtered through Rome.

Not in Britain. The collapse of the Empire was pretty much the collapse of all things Romanish over here.

Arising_uk wrote:

Melchior wrote:Yes, but very little of their influence is felt today. Everything was filtered through Rome.

Not in Britain. The collapse of the Empire was pretty much the collapse of all things Romanish over here.

What are you talking about? British law is directly descended from Roman law. Latin is the language of the court!

Melchior wrote:

Arising_uk wrote:

Melchior wrote:Yes, but very little of their influence is felt today. Everything was filtered through Rome.

Not in Britain. The collapse of the Empire was pretty much the collapse of all things Romanish over here.

What are you talking about? British law is directly descended from Roman law. Latin is the language of the court!

I was taught that the continent adopted mostly codified law on the model of Rome but England had its own common law tradition which passed to America.

spike wrote:

heehaw wrote:Anyone notice this month's cover is Foucault seemingly facepalming both sides of his head? Appropriate poster boy for the spirit of the awards.

No, Foucault is covering his ears because he doesn't like what he hears. He and Chomsky didn't get along.

Only a fool could see this and pretend they "did not get along"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9S1CiGPX2Q

Hobbes' Choice wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXLVIsD70cI

The only question is whether Chomsky has the intellect of a slug or a snail. That he is a coward and a liar and a scumbag motherfucker goes without saying.

Melchior wrote:

Hobbes' Choice wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXLVIsD70cI

The only question is whether Chomsky has the intellect of a slug or a snail. That he is a coward and a liar and a scumbag motherfucker goes without saying.

Idiot - you can't tell the difference between an argument and a row. I suppose a person with the brain of a flatworm, looking up at those a greater intellect, a slug is so far above you, that you can conceive of nothing higher.

So obviously a brain-dead idiot moron like yourself is best qualified to be able to judge.
Fuck off back to your Fox-News programming, like the automaton that you are.

You typify the ease with which the consent manufacturing media is able to convince and manipulate morons, like yourself, who can't wait to participate in their own exploitation.

Melchior wrote:The only question is whether Chomsky has the intellect of a slug or a snail. ...

Given he invented a grammar hierarchy that is still in use in Computer Science and Linguistics I'd say you were the slug.

That he is a coward and a liar and a scumbag motherfucker goes without saying.

Where is evidence of his cowardness? Is it that he doesn't post libellous nonsense anonymously on the weeb?

Melchior wrote:I didn't.

Figures.

Melchior wrote:Latin is the language of the court!

The Normans not the Romans.

Melchior wrote:All over the US! Right-to-work laws are being passed to open up these places.

Get your facts right, right-to-work laws are not about 'closed-shops', there are no 'closed-shops' in the US. These laws are about forcing unions to legally represent those who are not paying union dues, i.e. non-union members free-loading upon those who pay their dues. I can well understand how Chomsky opposes such a thing.

Arising_uk wrote:

Melchior wrote:Latin is the language of the court!

The Normans not the Romans.

Forgive an historian butting in.

The Lex Romanum is the bedrock of all European systems of law including the Lex Britanica. When the Normans came to Britain they brought the legal systems of the Franks, who had adopted the local lex Romanum, but when they got here, there were still elements of the Lex Romanum that the Saxons, themselves, had adopted.
The Germanic invasions were the result of an already Germanised Roman Empire which in the fourth century had it capital moved from Rome to Mainz.
The "fall of Rome" was more like a regime change in an already Germanised Europe.

The Germans in France, were smart enough to change the superstructure, leave the infrastructure alone, and steal the Base piecemeal. This gave institutional stability whilst preserving the running of the economy. The greatest asset in this change was the adoption of the legal and religious systems.

There is plenty of evidence for this sort of change. For example the Franks were the lightest touch of all, adopting the local Romance language, and adding only the military lexicon to the proto-French language that was emerging.
If you look at words of German origin in French you will find they relate to arms, armour, horses, and military ranks.

Hobbes' Choice wrote:

Melchior wrote:

Hobbes' Choice wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXLVIsD70cI

The only question is whether Chomsky has the intellect of a slug or a snail. That he is a coward and a liar and a scumbag motherfucker goes without saying.

Idiot - you can't tell the difference between an argument and a row. I suppose a person with the brain of a flatworm, looking up at those a greater intellect, a slug is so far above you, that you can conceive of nothing higher.

So obviously a brain-dead idiot moron like yourself is best qualified to be able to judge.
Fuck off back to your Fox-News programming, like the automaton that you are.

You typify the ease with which the consent manufacturing media is able to convince and manipulate morons, like yourself, who can't wait to participate in their own exploitation.

I don't watch 'Fox' whatever that is. Is that something on television?