F I S H I N G

Aquinas on Law

cantueso — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:36:31 +0000

1] Aquinas believes that man is defined by reason. And reason is to be used to make laws.

2] Aquinas believes that man belongs essentially to a community, and so the laws are to be made for the common good.

3] In order to be binding on everybody laws have to be public.

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Aquinas’ prime idea is that reason is part of the divine wisdom.

This is contrary to more recent thinking, where man’s basic guidance is labeled as “drive” or “instinct” of biochemical or some other, inner origin. –

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Quoting Aquinas :

“Reason in man is rather like God in the world”
meaning that reason is the prime governing principle

“Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath, and a glass of wine.”

“If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.”

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Aquinas was born in Sicily at his father’s castle of Roccasecca. His family expected him to become a church dignitary, for instance as the abbot of the Monte Cassino monastery. When he showed inclinations of a different kind, they kidnapped him and kept him as an in-home detainee.

He won his case and followed his vocation, and very soon he became a leader in research. He ended up writing the synthesis of all knowledge available at the time.

His work became standard and is still relevant in law school. He is however not read anymore, which is why on the net there are only about a dozen quotes, the same everywhere, copied from each other.

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Monte Cassino is famed as the scene of a WWII battle :

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……… On February 15 1944 the Americans destroyed the monastery as an enemy hide-out

………. Two days later, German paratroopers invaded the ruins trying to defend them

………. They were assaulted by the Allies at a loss of over 70,000 lives, German + Allied.

Link: Medieval Source Book

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Cervantes R.I.P.

cantueso — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:18:15 +0000

By now the prestige that the novel still has is all artificial and subsidized. The Quixote is loved, but in the abstract, as an idea. Very few people can read the complete thing. Kids have to read it. Independent readers can only get the slightly grotesque skeleton of the story and very little else.

But the idea has kept all of its power.

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In Google a “Cervantes” search key brings up mainly Spanish government + tourist interests.

Looking a little further produces copypastes of biography blather.

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This is how wikipedia. begins its presentation in Spanish :

…….. considered the first modern novel
…….. considered a classic of Western literature

…….. considered to be one of the best novels ever written
…….. considered the apex of world literature

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… In short, they mean to say it is a very important work.

However, what is its content, purpose, message ?

It is an attack on the contrived speech, the stilted ways and manners of a past age. Cervantes parodied the fashions, the literature, the morals, and the language that some 450 years ago ruled the day. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Now, what for would you parody the manners of 400 years ago for a modern reader, make a movie, write a modern translation and even an edition in a made-to-order language like Esperanto ?

What’s the point?

It’s still lucrative as a MARKET. You can sell it to schoolkids and to their parents.

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For kids it is depressing because its jokes are drab and its laughter is unhappy. In fact, kids simply cannot read it, and so they learn how to lie.

The teacher would often not notice, because maybe she is all fake or she doesn’t care.

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Wiki says: “His influence is so great that the Spanish language is often called the language of Cervantes.”

However, most Spaniards never read but imagine Quixote as a model, and they end up imitating the empty eloquence that Cervantes tried to ridicule……..

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Shakespeare’s audience is real, maybe largely academic, but not all claque.

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The thumbnails are frome Google. The Gring drawing below is from an Assimil course. The colour drawings are courtesy of 100 swallows. The silhouette is from a website at http://tinyurl.com/kumnf8

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Yet, the idea has kept all of its power. And the painters, philosophers, dancers, movie directors, children, and poets, they all are respond to the idea:

Dalí …

Doré ….

. Daumier …

Only the idea. The text is no longer present anywhere.

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The thumbnails are frome Google. The Gring drawing below is from an Assimil course. The colour drawings are courtesy of 100 swallows. The silhouette is from the artist’s website at http://tinyurl.com/kumnf8

Natural Law = ?

cantueso — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:43:27 +0000

It is a very old concept and so it has become controversial. It dates back to the Greeks and the Jews and later the Romans who formulated a basic belief in reason.

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Next came the Christians saying that God who gave us life also gave us the basic notions of judgment. These notions were considered part of man’s “nature”, and that is why they are called “natural”. –

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So the question is : where does the strength or the relevance of the law come from?

Some would say: a law is strong if it is in line with what most people “naturally” consider right. — Others would say: a law is strong because it is backed by the State or by a ruler who is powerful enough to enforce it.

In the West the debates on both of these positions have been going on for centuries. –

The question where laws come from also affects those “rights” that have been claimed for women or for all humans and also for (some) animals.

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This drawing is by Maira Kalman from her NYT story blog about her visit to the US Supreme Court. The blog is called “And the Pursuit of Happiness” and is all drawn and painted. She is a designer.

The Westminster palace photo is by Diliff for Wikipedia, and the cathedral drawing is the cover of the Macauley book.

Andy Warhol’s Admirers

cantueso — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:42:53 +0000

… Amazing!

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… omg I love this

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… hi this is awesome

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… Andy Warhol is awesum

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… i love pop art!

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. … It was very very inciteful.

¿¿¿inciteful?

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… his art is so aesome

I think there is a sameness about the pictures and the verbal expressions that go with them, except that Andy knew what he was doing, since he also sold things in the cute and pretty line.

.. he’s totally rad!!!