Re: MD categorising the mental

From: Sam Norton (elizaphanian@kohath.wanadoo.co.uk)
Date: Tue Mar 15 2005 - 08:55:33 GMT

  • Next message: Sam Norton: "Re: MD categorising the mental"

    Hi Dan,

    This is a quick reply as I think it sensible to wait for Anthony's (no doubt
    robust) response before saying more. But a few things.

    >... If you have the time, could you please unpick for me your reasons for
    >believing as you do that RMP has simply substituted the social and
    >intellectual levels for Descartes' "spiritual substance." I don't see it as
    >a tenable position.

    I think Pirsig avoids most of the problems (listed in the Hacker quote) as
    he doesn't talk about 'philosophical psychology' much, and he certainly
    denies that the self is a 'subsisting thing' (one of the bits I disagree
    with, ironically). But where I think the residue of Descartes is still
    present is in the 'empiricism' strand, which is what I'm trying to pursue
    with Anthony et al. Also, whenever he says things like combining the moq
    with philosophical idealism, alarm bells go off.

    > Again, I could be wrong but I get the severe impression that you're
    > devouring the menu instead of the meal. Of course the analogy is
    > "Cartesian theatre" in as much as our language is grounded in such a
    > manner. It was the idea I was attempting to get across by using the
    > analogy, not visa versa. This could be construed as a real impediment to
    > seeing what RMP is saying as well.

    I thought metaphysics was the menu? Also, I'm not sure that we have to be
    quite bound into our language in the way you imply, although it's obviously
    a struggle to get free of it.

    > But where does "spirit" fit into the static patterns? That was my point.

    I'm not sure it does. You were the one who brought it into the conversation.
    Tell me what you mean by spirit and I'll try and give an answer.

    Cheers
    Sam

    MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
    Mail Archives:
    Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
    Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
    MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net

    To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
    http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html

    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Tue Mar 15 2005 - 08:58:27 GMT