MD Possible incorrect sentence in Lila

From: Sriram Subramaniam (sriram_moq@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Jul 10 2004 - 18:02:39 BST

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    Hello,
     
    I've been reading and re-reading Lila for many years now, and I've noticed there is a sentence which I think is phrased incorrectly, and I was wondering if anyone else had any thoughts about it. In chapter 24, near the bottom of page 348 of my Bantam paperback edition, the statement appears: "Just as the intellectual revolution undermined social patterns, the Hippies undermined both static and intellectual patterns." I think this statement is phrased incorrectly. The correct statement should read: "...the Hippies undermined both social and intellectual patterns." Since intellectual patterns are static patterns, it doesn't make sense to say, "both static and intellectual patterns." It would be like saying, "rabies affects both mammals and dogs." Since dogs are mammals, the statement is overly redundant. In general, it is logically incorrect to say "both x and y" when y is a subset of x.
     
    Considering what is said earlier regarding the confusion of biological quality and Dynamic Quality that the Hippies had such as the statement, "The Hippie rejection of social and intellectual patterns left just two directions to go: toward biological quality and toward Dynamic Quality," and also later in this paragraph such as the statement, "The result has been a drop in both social and intellectual quality," I think it should have been written that the Hippies undermined both social and intellectual patterns.
     
    I don't know if any future editions of Lila are planned, but if so, hopefully this minor error can be fixed. Possibly if any one is in correspondence with Mr. Pirsig or his publisher, this can be brought to his attention if not already done so.
     
    Regards,
     
    --- Sriram

                    
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