"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything..." (Richard Feynman)
During my flight back from Philadephia to Rome I read Rebecca Goldstein's Book "Betraying Spinoza". The book is not only an introduction into the affascinating (and completely unconvincing for me) Philosophy of Spinoza, but it is also an account of the man Baruch Spinoza and the history of the sephardic Jews. Some excerpts:
""Dichiaro di rifiutare qualsiasi legge che non rispetti i diritti
dell'individuo e la libertà personale": per questa dichiarazione,
nonché per aver espresso altre opinioni "pericolose" in merito alla
tolleranza religiosa e all'uguaglianza tra i sessi, in Egitto lo
studente ventiduenne Abdul Karim Suleiman, ossia Karim Amir, è stato
condannato a quattro anni di carcere con l'accusa di avere insultato
il presidente egiziano e la religione islamica.
Il ricorso in appello ha confermato la sentenza e l'accusa ha
The below linked article from the Economist supports my opinion that it is inappropriate to speak about the right of housing, the right of food, and so on. Limiting essential rights to a few, will make it easier to enforce them:
- free expression of opinions
- not being jailed without a proper legal treatment by the authorities
- protection against violence from others
- state of law
this are basic principles that also can be enforced by a simple decision of will.
Whether from a Confucian, a Legalist, or even a Daoist perspective, law was viewed as an expedient, not as something noble or inviolable, or something that exists above and beyond the ruler
He (Mencius) reminded rulers of the Mandate of heaven, telling them to their faces if they did not rule well, heaven would bring it about that their people would rebel and oust them. He made it the responsibility of rulers to see to it that their people had enough to eat at every meal in good years and could avoid starvation in bad years. ...
A ruler who did not fulfil his rople properly, Dong (c179-104 BC), would directly disturb the balance of heaven and earth, causing floods, earthquakes and other natural calamities.sexcam