Ciceronianus

I would say the that Derrida's odd insertion of a vague but suggestive concept of "force" or "the value of force" into the mix may in some manner invo...

I must join Banno and express my surprise that you claim Frantic Freddie Nietzsche exemplifies OLP. I suppose that surprise may result from the fact I...

If there was a "Pronouncements" category, these posts could all be put in the same place. If anyone wanted to read such things, they could easily be f...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAHJCPoWCC8 I admit I'm not sure just what is being condemned so adamantly in the OP. But by some of its content and t...

Perhaps there should be a forum category called "Pronouncements" reserved for announcements and declarations by those inclined to make them. It could ...

Well, it will certainly be more difficult for our Great Union to hector other nations about the rule of law and proper governance, thanks to recent ev...

Well, he's no Franco, I'll give you that. Or, perhaps you prefer "Caudillo"? But seriously, the claims and cases you refer to were almost literally la...

I'm not certain about conservatism leading to socialism, but it seems clear enough that here in our Glorious Republic, it has come to encourage the re...

You're right. I should have limited my comments to the state of conservatism in the U.S. Here, it seems, we're witnessing a sort of rebirth of the vie...

It isn't possible to usefully assess the existence of "leftists" and their worth without defining what they are, which in turn requires that you defin...

He can be quite amusing and is insightful sometimes. A clever man rather than a thoughtful one, I think.

Yes. But our politicians are venal and craven as a rule, and I doubt this will happen unless their paymasters feel threatened.

Requiescat in pace, "American Exceptionalism."

I think that's true. But the assessment of responses is, I think, a process of judging what is reasonable given the position and rules of the game.

That makes sense to me. I think it still does, at least for me. For example, there are some openings/defenses which I think look better than others, a...

Well, I play chess too, but am cautious when it comes to comparing what is, I think, a beautiful game with life. Bobby Fischer said "Chess is life" an...

I seem to recall--actually, I do recall, but only vaguely--a thread in the old forum on whether he should be allowed to travel to Ecuador from the UK ...

For a proper understanding of what nihilism is, and what nihilists are, you must watch The Big Lebowski.

I read several of his works in my increasingly distant youth. There was something of the Romantic in him, and that pleased me then. But I see him now ...

Well, Gibbon wrote regarding his history of the fall of the Western Empire that he had "described the triumph of barbarism and religion." As for barba...

The decision would be a hard one to make, but I would maintain it should be when it comes to disregarding the law. The claim that war or other extraor...

Very true. But that argument is one that derives from the claim that ordinary law (prohibiting killing anyone) should not apply in extraordinary circu...

For me, that's an inadequate response--X is necessary because we must do X in order to know X is necessary isn't an argument I find acceptable. What m...

I think we should, at the least, ask if there is any evidence supporting the claim that the circumstances are (or were) such as to justify disregard o...

Cicero not only argued that the law shouldn't apply in certain circumstances, but later circumvented the law after he became consul of Rome in respons...

I don't know enough about the law in England to comment on what is or isn't prohibited, what sanctions apply if the law is violated or whether there a...

"Mainly" is good enough when it comes to reliability, and that reliability is the best we can do in any case when it comes to understanding the enviro...

Oh no, no. Not bribery. Just official acts, which may or may not include bribery. For example, bestowing lavish gifts on, or gifting money to, a polit...

"Defensible scientific concept", forsooth. What does such a thing have to do with this thread you started?

Reagan, the Creator of Ideas. Yes, that's how he'll be remembered, I'm sure. I'm leery of claims regarding who, or what, rules the world. Power or imp...

According to Disraeli, "here is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour." It see...

The word "rights" carries quite a bit of baggage. If you mean to say that a right to do X exists if doing X cannot be prohibited or restricted by any ...

Well, only if it's assumed there's a "you" that's not your body, and if one of them "came" before the other, and if one of them caused the other to be...

The quote from Adam Smith is interesting. Before him, Hugh Grotius relied on natural law as a basis for freedom of the seas/trade. Grotius is consider...

When it comes to the law we create, even in the U.S., there is no law which requires the government to protect freedom of speech. There is no affirmat...

I agree, and think this indicates that rights and duties are not intertwined, dependent or complimentary.

So am I. But those rights exist only to the extent they arise from the law. Even if they do, I think it's clear enough that other people, if not the g...

Then I must have misunderstood. You seemed to be saying duties derive from rights. I don't think they do, unless "duties" consist solely of the duty n...

Judges seem to disagree, I'm afraid. See link. I've prepared and reviewed and objected to many affidavits. This sort of thing just doesn't work in a c...

I disagree. Ancient Western thinkers--I mean Greeks and Romans--felt that what was appropriate according to natural law could be determined in part fr...

And that could well be what is meant, in which case the duties nature imposes on us become purely negative--we should not infringe on someone else's r...

I'll check it out. Been a bit tied up.

The questions I'm (now!) trying to pursue (which I think are still pertinent to this thread) are--assuming there are natural rights, in what sense are...

The claim that is no (natural) right without a duty, though, indicates that for each such right, there is a corresponding duty. A duty not to lie, or ...

You seem to be referring to a duty of government, though. What are the duties of those endowed with the rights, if there are any? Those are the duties...

We hear this often, but I wonder what it means, at least in the context of a belief in natural rights. Does it mean there are natural duties as well a...

As a lawyer, and as someone of (largely) Italian descent, I'm horrified by this seemingly demented and contemptible faccia di cazzo.

If it has to do with possessions, it is of course a very serious question. The fact that self-interest isn't a virtue doesn't mean one cannot be self-...

Thank you!

Thank you. I don't know for certain, but I think it's likely those cultures/societies have no concept of the individual rights claimed to exist in the...