Chapter 6, Chapter 2 - Language of the Marketplace Cont. Summary and Analysis

Knowledge traditions are brought up once again. There is the culture of the immediate context. For the reader, it is one thing. For the author it is another. The author himself participates in the tradition of knowledge presented through universities as ancient wisdom preserved through the power of the written word for generations. Here, Rabelais makes direct reference to Socrates, and Alcibiades, which has been made possible by Plato's writing and the complex social systems that have carried this forward in time and through changes in the language. The author includes a quotation that uses the praise-abuse combination. He writes truthfully, that Socrates looked like an unappealing simpleton. He adds that this man did not appear to be good for much other than for getting drunk with...