How Western Philosophy Can Ruin ASL and Democracy

Socrates and the Hemlock Cup

 



And, truly, what of good ever have prophets brought to men?

Craft of many words, only through evil your message speaks.

Seers bring aye terror, so to keep men afraid.

 

__The Agamemmon of Aeschylus



Five hundred years before Christ in Athens, Greece, in the cradle of the western civilization, a strange new power at work. Outside the Bible.  Something had awakened in the minds of the Greeks which became so important it influenced out democracy today.  We are democratic in our thinking because of what Athens did twenty-five centuries ago.

What brought this new Greek democracy to pass, how the Greeks were able to acieve all they did, is important to us today.  Great literature, compiled by Plato--Greek philosopher-founder of The Academy, a prototype for colleges and universities today--is the expression of great knowledge; writing is a great art, the expression of a solution of the conflict between the demands of the world without and that within; and in the wisdom writing would seem to make a lot of process as well as hinderance.

Let me cite American Sign Language (ASL) as an example here.  The knowledge of sign language in ancient Greece can be read in Plato's book Cratylus, published in the late fifth century BC.  And in the Cratylus Socrates deals with two primary interlocutors, Hermogenes and Cratylus about being clear about what is meant by ‘names’.  Plato has Socrates question whether the signs by the Deaf are equal with the names spoken and written.It is of first importance in acknowledging deaf people's intelligence which is a vital distinction.  "all things are to be examined and called into question" is an old Grfeek definition of no limits set to thought.  However, Aristotle--the third in the trinity of western philosophy--thought differently.  Through his syllogistic argument, he pointed out that the inability of the Deaf to repeat the same sounds implied imbecility (mental incapacity).  Hence, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle together became the ruin of the western philosophy.

Today we have been listening to not only insults but also sound arguments against American Sign Language (ASL) in the United States and most of Canada.  Our world society has yet to understand that being deaf is so philosophical that the sense of hearing can never be restored naturally, which is not debatable.  We also have a big responsibility to point out that ASL is the product of social, political and economic developments.

Speaking of politics, ASL is always in danger of being described in another language, that is, English.  Although we the native or near native users of ASL can be said to be the product of three important federal mandatories: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (the rights of citizens), The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities, and The American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (no discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities), today we have been listening to conservative and divisive politics attempting to shrink federal mandates and to write us off 100%.  Aeschylus is probably correct in making us afraid of being described in another language, English.