(Answer at the end).
BANANA
By Charles Kocian
Donald Trump was indicted last Thursday and becoming the first American former president charged with a crime. The charges are focused on its involvement in the payment to a porn star who said had an affair with him, but Trump denies. Trump’s fixer at the time, Michael D. Cohen, made the payment during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Former President Trump Indicted: Source image: The Guardian.
This news has garnered a lot of attention and has been the topic of much discussion and debate. Although this is not about JFK or 9-11 controversy, many people are saying the US is looking like a Banana Republic where the Judicial System is used as a political weapon.
Florence during the Renaissance. Source image: History Crunch.
However, this is not the first time that a public figure has been indicted on charges that have rocked society. In this post, we will explore two historical examples of similar news during the Renaissance and ancient Athens and its link to the question N° 45 of the Champion’s Renaissance book about the relation between concepts and percepts.
The five senses connect percepts directly to reality.
During the Renaissance, the Italian philosopher and writer Niccolò Machiavelli faced a similar situation when he was accused of conspiring against the Medici family in 1513. Machiavelli had served as a diplomat for the Florentine Republic, but when the Medici family regained control of Florence, he was dismissed from his position and subsequently accused of plotting against the ruling family. Machiavelli was imprisoned and tortured, but ultimately, he was acquitted of the charges. However, his reputation was tarnished, and he was unable to regain his position in the government.
Machiavelli.
The case of Machiavelli demonstrates how easily rulers can manipulate justice to shape public opinion. Machiavelli’s writings, including his famous work “The Prince,” were highly controversial at the time, as they advocated for the use of ruthless tactics in politics. The Medici family used this to their advantage and accused Machiavelli of plotting against them, knowing that his controversial views would turn public opinion against him.
Acropolis.
A similar situation occurred in ancient Athens when the philosopher Socrates was put on trial and ultimately sentenced to death in 399 BC. Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and impiety, as his philosophical teachings challenged the traditional beliefs of the city. Socrates was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to drink hemlock, a poisonous substance.
Socrates taking poison.
Socrates’ teachings were seen as a threat to the traditional values of Athens, and the city’s leaders used this as a basis for their accusations against him. However, Socrates argued that his teachings were aimed at finding the truth and understanding the world around us, and that they were not meant to corrupt the youth or promote impiety. In other words, he was looking for objective truths without political bias, that is, what scientist do.
In both of these historical examples, nor the rulers nor the ruled were aware of their self-deception derived from floating concepts in their narratives. Instead of being sceptical and make their own research to reach their own conclusions, they accept invalid concepts of propaganda, that is based, as any kind of propaganda, in the weak mind of the people, as the Asch Experiment of conformity demonstrates.
Asch Experiment of Conformity.
The Medici family used Machiavelli’s controversial views to turn public opinion against him and ultimately remove him from power. Similarly, the leaders of Athens used their traditional beliefs to accuse Socrates of corrupting the youth and promote their own agenda. Trump’s indictment is likely to have significant consequences in the 2024 election he is running.
The relationship between concepts and percepts is not complex and multifaceted as ChatGPT says. The Allegory of Folders and Photo Albums presented in the book written by Charles Kocian called CHAMPION’S RENAISSSANCE, Objective Philosophy for an Exceptional Mind (that soon will be launch), explains it easily, so a 5-year-old child can understand how man knows reality, from perceptions to ideas.
CONCLUSION
Rulers and ruled of a nuclear world, secret or not, will continue their errors and destroy the world if they don’t understand how concepts are related to percepts. Therefore, what is needed for man to continue its evolution, to fulfil its telos, to reach its eudaimonia, to become optimal-rational-animals is to learn objective epistemology. Ayn Rand in its book Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology shows how.
Rulers and ruled of the world! Trust your 5 senses! If an entity smells like a banana, taste like a banana and looks like a banana, it’s a banana!
Now answer to question 45.
QUESTION N° 45
Does the Allegory of Photo Albums and Folders serve to know how “percepts” connects with concepts?
a) Yes
b) No
The answer is: yes.
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