Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2017 March 22
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March 22
[edit]Roman Empire in German historiography
[edit]In German historiography, what is the normal name for the Italian-based polity in the West from 27 BC until AD 476, and what are its major subdivisions? de:Römische Kaiserzeit (what's the difference between "Kaiserzeit" and "Kaiserreich", by the way?) somehow covers just until the ascension of Diocletian in 284; de:Römische Tetrarchie covers just the years of the Tetrarchy (leaving a gap from 284 until 293), and I've not figured out what comes after 305, since Fall of the Western Roman Empire doesn't have a German interwiki link at all. Speaking no German, I can't just read the articles and follow the links. Nyttend (talk) 12:20, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- For the "Roman Empire" in general it is de:Römisches Reich ("Römische Kaiserzeit" is more like the "Roman imperial era".) Like in English, "Roman Empire" refers to sort of an artificial period that actually covers several distinct kinds of government. The German Wikipedia also has de:Zeittafel Rom (a chronology of Roman history), de:Weströmisches Reich (the Western empire) and Oströmisches Reich (the Eastern empire, which redirects to de:Byzantinisches Reich, the Byzantine Empire. The fall of the empire is covered in de:Untergang des Römischen Reiches. Adam Bishop (talk) 12:57, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- Nyttend --in English, some scholars distinguish between the pre-Diocletian "principate" and the post-Diocletian "dominate" (see "Art Forms and Civic Life in the Late Roman Empire" by H.P. L'Orange, ISBN 0-691-00305-X). It seems that "Römische Kaiserzeit" is pretty much equivalent to Principate. We have articles on Principate and Dominate... AnonMoos (talk) 15:22, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- Good point. I'm [insert adjective; somewhere between "familiar" and "aware of"] the Principate and Dominate divisions, but I've not much handled that time period in a good while, so that division wouldn't have come to mind. Nyttend (talk) 15:34, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- Oh yeah, Kaiserzeit is being used as the term for the Principate. But that means the German Wikipedia has overlapping articles about the Kaiserzeit and the de:Prinzipat. Seems a bit messy... Adam Bishop (talk) 17:11, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- There's not necessarily a problem with having separate articles on the Principate as a Roman political institution vs. a general chronicle of the period of history when the Principate prevailed... AnonMoos (talk) 17:53, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- Oh yeah, Kaiserzeit is being used as the term for the Principate. But that means the German Wikipedia has overlapping articles about the Kaiserzeit and the de:Prinzipat. Seems a bit messy... Adam Bishop (talk) 17:11, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- Good point. I'm [insert adjective; somewhere between "familiar" and "aware of"] the Principate and Dominate divisions, but I've not much handled that time period in a good while, so that division wouldn't have come to mind. Nyttend (talk) 15:34, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
Waiving our basic rights
[edit]Do we have a right to waive some basic right? Is there a law prohibiting me (or making it void) to waive my right to life, health, freedom (and be bought and sold as a slave) and so on? What philosophers (especially liberal ones) think about it? --Llaanngg (talk) 12:41, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- Where? Aside from your philosopher question, the answer depends completely on what part of the world you're talking about. Nyttend (talk) 12:46, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- Have you read the articles on Human rights, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Philosophy of human rights. I don't remember anything in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights about a right to die, be unhealthy, or to be sold as a slave. However many places now do have a law allowing voluntary euthanasia and I see a first world country is now going to remove provisions to look after the health of its citizens and there's still places one can go and get enslaved if one so desires. Dmcq (talk) 13:08, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- There are other sets of less fundamental (but still important) rights that also can't be signed away that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For example, usually the rights granted granted under Labor Laws can't be signed away. You or your lawyer would have to do a lot of research to figure out the exact particulars in your locale. It can get complicated. ApLundell (talk) 13:18, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- If you have an "inalienable" right you cannot give it to someone else, but I don't think it necessarily means you can't throw it away. jnestorius(talk) 14:16, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- Human rights are a concept based on enlightenment ideas. One of the major thinkers of the enlightenment formulated it thusly: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. According to Jefferson, at least these three rights cannot be "alienated", i.e. you always maintain control over them. That might mean you can chose to not enforce them (as in the case of assisted suicide), but you can always reassert them (so you might submit to a Dominatrix, but your "slavery" ends with a simple act of will). Of course, Jefferson was a bit spotty on both capitalisation and implementation of his ideas... --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:18, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- In Jefferson's day, nouns tended to be capitalized, a carryover from German language roots. But he certainly used slaves - (some more than others. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:10, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- You can waive certain rights by entering a contract, say one that allows you to be randomly drug tested, have background checks done by government agencies without a warrant on probable cause, agree to binding arbitration rather than suit by law, or a non-compete or non-disclosure clause. These are all entirely voluntary, so they don't so much count as waiving one's rights, rather than expressing them in a certain way.
- Human rights are a concept based on enlightenment ideas. One of the major thinkers of the enlightenment formulated it thusly: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. According to Jefferson, at least these three rights cannot be "alienated", i.e. you always maintain control over them. That might mean you can chose to not enforce them (as in the case of assisted suicide), but you can always reassert them (so you might submit to a Dominatrix, but your "slavery" ends with a simple act of will). Of course, Jefferson was a bit spotty on both capitalisation and implementation of his ideas... --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:18, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- There's also the much more controversial issue of plea bargains, which are fictions where instead of facing a thousand year jail sentence you plea guilty to something you may not have done and agree to suffer the otherwise relatively minor consequences. There are also the less odious abilities to waive the right to legal council, waive the right to a jury trial, and probably others, for which, see below. μηδείς (talk) 15:04, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- I don't think plea bargaining means pleading guilty to something you haven't done. Itsmejudith (talk) 16:14, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- Actually, it often does. Many defendants are coerced into a plea bargain with the promise that they'd have a harsher sentence if the trial went forward, regardless of whether or not they actually committed the act for which they are on trial. There's very little accord given to whether or not the defendant is culpable for the act for which they are charged, and mostly given to the defendant accepting a lesser punishment instead of a greater one. --Jayron32 17:22, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- I don't think plea bargaining means pleading guilty to something you haven't done. Itsmejudith (talk) 16:14, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- There's also the much more controversial issue of plea bargains, which are fictions where instead of facing a thousand year jail sentence you plea guilty to something you may not have done and agree to suffer the otherwise relatively minor consequences. There are also the less odious abilities to waive the right to legal council, waive the right to a jury trial, and probably others, for which, see below. μηδείς (talk) 15:04, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
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- Ex-convict and Lord Conrad Black of Canada has a lot to say about the plea bargaining system, which is very peculiar to the United States. Something like 95%+ of a criminal trials end in a conviction, and a huge number of those are due to plea bargaining. It's a corruption that has entered our system through the war on drugs.
- For example, here's a sixth-cicuit court decision that argues that the actual amount of coke in a "coke" sample doesn't matter from 2016.μηδείς (talk) 23:28, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
Yes. Boxing, among other colourful activities, depends on it. See Criminal consent. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 13:37, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- Volenti non fit injuria in tort law.--Shirt58 (talk) 01:10, 25 March 2017 (UTC)
Info on a science fiction short story where child reporters discover truth about Santa Claus?
[edit]Hi there, I was hoping that any science fiction short story aficionado could remember the name/author of a short story. It was set in a world where children, like 4-year-olds, have their own news channel and uncover the horrible truth that there is no Santa Claus. It triggers a national emergency but at the end I think there was a cynical understanding achieved between the children and the grownups.
I'm going to guess it was written in the 1970s because I think I read it (as a kid) in the early 1980s in a library book, surely a collection of science fiction short stories, if I know me. Thanks much.50.89.16.32 (talk) 19:25, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
- You might have more luck searching yourself (some tips here, or somewhere akin to Reddit's /r/tipofmytongue. Alcherin (talk) 00:27, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- Christmas Treason perhaps? Blooteuth (talk) 03:55, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- The fact that you remember it from an anthology and not from a monthly magazine is a strong clue. You might try to find it in "Best of" collections from the 70s. A good database is isfdb.org, but sadly searching by "tag" is useless because most stories are not tagged.
- My best guess is The Santa Claus Compromise first published in 1974. I've not read it, but it matches your time-frame and it wound up in a few anthologies like 'Best SF: 75' and 'The Year's Best SF No.9'.
- Hope this helps. ApLundell (talk) 13:27, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
That's gotta be it! I remember the pyramid with eyes book cover now. Thanks so much.50.89.16.32 (talk) 15:16, 23 March 2017 (UTC)