Philosophy Discussion

**KingCondanomation** · 12-07-2008, 07:06 PM

Is the fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper a good moral tale? Here it is if you've never read it:

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"

"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."

"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:

It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Aesop...hopper_p1.html

Should the ant help the grasshopper avoid death?

**FUCK THE POLICE** · 12-07-2008, 07:12 PM

I don't live my life through Aesops.

**Annie** · 12-07-2008, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by KingCondanomation

Is the fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper a good moral tale? Here it is if you've never read it:

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"

"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."

"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:

It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Aesop...hopper_p1.html

Should the ant help the grasshopper avoid death?

Only out of a surplus. When the dire happens, some rules must come into play.

**KingCondanomation** · 12-07-2008, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by Watermark

I don't live my life through Aesops.

That's true, you live it through this forum Watermarks.

Why not share your thoughts rather than take the witty copout that wasn't?

**KingCondanomation** · 12-07-2008, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by Annie

Only out of a surplus. When the dire happens, some rules must come into play.

I hadn't thought of that. But what if some expect some of that surplus and argue that in a society as wealthy as ours there's no reason they shouldn't be able to have ____?

I think the fable is difficult to compare as food can spoil and there is no loss for the future in getting rid of extra, whereas with money there is. Perhaps that shows a big failure of leftist thought - that they still rely on primitive thinking in terms of wealth being like food where it NEEDS to be used when on hand.

**BRUTALITOPS** · 12-07-2008, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by Watermark

I don't live my life through Aesops.

A++

**KingCondanomation** · 12-07-2008, 07:50 PM

Originally Posted by Grind

A++

What? That should have got negative grind points, it was a wimpy copout.

**Onceler** · 12-07-2008, 08:14 PM

Because everyone who loses a job or gets injured on the job or who otherwise finds themselves unemployed & in need of temporary assistance is exactly like the grasshopper.

Danoworld.

**uscitizen** · 12-07-2008, 08:37 PM

The ant would put a lein against future grasshopper income and bail it out.

**KingCondanomation** · 12-07-2008, 10:22 PM

Originally Posted by Onceler

Because everyone who loses a job or gets injured on the job or who otherwise finds themselves unemployed & in need of temporary assistance is exactly like the grasshopper.

Danoworld.

Did I say that? The story is what it is, you are just adding on circumstances to justify it. Based on the story as it is, do you consider it a moral tale?

Remember the ant is fully aware of WHY the grasshopper would end up in the predicament he got in and it isn't because of anything out of his control, so judge the fable as it is.

**FUCK THE POLICE** · 12-07-2008, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by KingCondanomation

Did I say that? The story is what it is, you are just adding on circumstances to justify it. Based on the story as it is, do you consider it a moral tale?

Remember the ant is fully aware of WHY the grasshopper would end up in the predicament he got in and it isn't because of anything out of his control, so judge the fable as it is.

The reason Aesop's are useless is that there is no situation in life anything like them.

**KingCondanomation** · 12-07-2008, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by Watermark

The reason Aesop's are useless is that there is no situation in life anything like them.

ROFL! You really don't have much life experience. Try living in the heart of Liberalism that you love so much like an inner city.

Aesop's fables had staying power precisely because people COULD relate to them, even through the different ages.

**FUCK THE POLICE** · 12-07-2008, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by KingCondanomation

ROFL! You really don't have much life experience. Try living in the heart of Liberalism that you love so much like an inner city.

Aesop's fables had staying power precisely because people COULD relate to them, even through the different ages.

TY for the token "I'm an a-dult" moment. And why can't I live in, for instance, rural Denmark? Preferably one of the cities they're converting into a carbon-neutral town.

Yes, if you simplify the major issues from situations and come up with a huge caricature of an event, you can find a cheap aseop to fit it, and make the decision you were going to make anyway, just with a huge caricature to prop it up.

**KingCondanomation** · 12-07-2008, 11:40 PM

Originally Posted by Watermark

TY for the token "I'm an a-dult" moment. And why can't I live in, for instance, rural Denmark? Preferably one of the cities they're converting into a carbon-neutral town.

Hey go ahead, but you are kind of swimming against the tide there, despite having pretty much no other country to move to that speaks Danish as well, Denmark is losing it's workers to places that don't have taxes that are as high to support that wonderful Liberal life you love and never lived.

"The Confederation of Danish Industries estimated in August that the Danish labor force had shrunk by about 19,000 people through the end of 2005, because Danes and others had moved elsewhere. Other studies suggest that about 1,000 people leave the country each year, a figure that masks an outflow of qualified Danes and an inflow of less skilled foreign workers who help, at least partially, to offset the losses.

Danish business normally keeps its distance from politics, but in parliamentary elections this year, a few companies jumped into the fray.

Lars Christensen is co-chief executive of Saxo Bank, a Copenhagen financial services firm specializing in currency trading and retail brokerage services.

"The high tax rate is the No. 1 problem we have," Christensen said. "It's that simple.""
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/...bor.php?page=2

Originally Posted by Watermark

Yes, if you simplify the major issues from situations and come up with a huge caricature of an event, you can find a cheap aseop to fit it, and make the decision you were going to make anyway, just with a huge caricature to prop it up.

There are no major issues here, it is a simple story that most normal people can relate to of the dilemna of should they help someone who didn't bother to help themselves?
You dance around answering it like Onceler and YOU are the one complicating it.
I've lived right next door to a social housing welfare project, virtually no one up when I went out of my apartment to walk to work early in the morning and gee they didn't park the cars they shouldn't have in any disabled spots either.
You really need to get out and see what it is you are defending.

**FUCK THE POLICE** · 12-08-2008, 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by KingCondanomation

Hey go ahead, but you are kind of swimming against the tide there, despite having pretty much no other country to move to that speaks Danish as well, Denmark is losing it's workers to places that don't have taxes that are as high to support that wonderful Liberal life you love and never lived.

"The Confederation of Danish Industries estimated in August that the Danish labor force had shrunk by about 19,000 people through the end of 2005, because Danes and others had moved elsewhere. Other studies suggest that about 1,000 people leave the country each year, a figure that masks an outflow of qualified Danes and an inflow of less skilled foreign workers who help, at least partially, to offset the losses.

Danish business normally keeps its distance from politics, but in parliamentary elections this year, a few companies jumped into the fray.

Lars Christensen is co-chief executive of Saxo Bank, a Copenhagen financial services firm specializing in currency trading and retail brokerage services.

"The high tax rate is the No. 1 problem we have," Christensen said. "It's that simple.""
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/...bor.php?page=2

America is the worst country in history. The only problem with Denmark is the conservative party currently governing.