From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Feb 04 2003 - 14:23:49 GMT
Hi Kevin:
> This sounds like a much more reasonable expectation of our Nazi's
> reaction to MOQ. They'll interpret it to suit their interests just as we
> do.
>
> So what prevents us from being Nazis? We do.
>
> Platt finds the MOQ perfectly supports his conservatism.
>
> DMB finds the MOQ perfectly supports his liberalism.
>
> Several find the MOQ perfectly supports Christianity.
>
> I find the MOQ perfectly supports my Atheism.
Undoubtedly true. Which is why Pirsig gives us this warning:
"To put philosophy in the service of any social organization or any
dogma is immoral. It's a lower form of evolution trying to devour a higher
one." (29)
You can interpret philosophy to suit your own interests and beliefs
without harm. But if you attempt to force your interpretation on others by
gaining control of and using society's coercive powers, like Marxists,
you are immoral.
> As I see it, this phenomenon results from key features of the MOQ.
>
> 1) rejection of objectivity
> 2) empowerment that each individual "knows" Quality "instinctively"
>
> I guess you could say it's an epistemological problem with the MOQ.
Pirsig doesn't "reject" objectivity. In matters of science and history,
where ascertaining facts is independent of values other than the value of
truth, objectivity is required. But in matters of morality, objectivity has
nothing to say whereas the MoQ has everything to say, including the
morality of objectivity. Pirsig writes:
"Or, using another analogy, saying that a Metaphysics of Quality is
false and a subject-object metaphysics is true is like saying that
rectangular coordinates are true and polar coordinates are false. A map
with the North Pole at the center is confusing at first, but it's every bit as
correct as a Mercator map. In the Arctic it's the only map to have. Both
are simply intellectual patterns for interpreting reality and one can only
say that in some circumstances rectangular coordinates provide a
better, simpler interpretation. The Metaphysics of Quality provides a
better set of coordinates with which to interpret the world than does
subject-object metaphysics because it is more inclusive. It explains
more of the world and it explains it better. The Metaphysics of Quality
can explain subject-object relationships beautifully but, as Phaedrus
had seen in anthropology, a subject-object metaphysics can't explain
values worth a damn. It has always been a mess of unconvincing
psychological gibberish when it tries to explain values. (8)
Platt
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