LS Re: Catechism or FAQ


Bodvar Skutvik (skutvik@online.no)
Sat, 22 Nov 1997 03:50:03 +0100


 
Diana wrote:

> But it needs to be said now because it is clear that others are trying
> to gear the FAQ towards newcomers, even to the point of glossing over
> the main points because they might upset people. Perhaps that's fair
> enough - for a FAQ - but it's not appropriate for a catechism.
 
> It's not that I don't want a FAQ, but I tend to feel that one will
> emerge sooner or later anyway. At the moment the LS is so young that all
> the questions are new and none are frequently asked. Also, I'm all for
> teaching others about the MoQ, but if we're not sure about our
> principles ourselves I don't see how we can explain them to anyone else.
>
> So what I'm going to do is retitle the FAQ a "Catechism of Quality" and
> pursue that instead. If anyone wants to pick up the FAQ and create
> something geared towards newcomers please go ahead. Otherwise I suggest
> we wait and write the FAQ after the catechism, or just let it emerge
> when it's ready.

Hi Diana and Squad.

Re. your exasperation over the slow going in the FAQ negotiations,
and the Catechism suggestion.

About the latter: It is needed too, although the name has to be
something less old-fashioned (this morning I found Maggie's
response!), but couldn't we let the FAQ "simmer" a little longer, I
think it looks good so far. The answers have to be as simple as
possible, they are primarily for newcomers and "surfers". The first
most basic ones could even be more terse (see my version)

The suggestion from Magnus about "energy" besides "matter" I have
remedied in my version by formulating the answer (to the "What is
Static Inorganic Quality" question): "IT IS THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE".
To divide it into immaterial energy/forces and material substance is
SOM. Gravity is for instance a very rigid Inorganic pattern.

The changes that Doug suggested to "What is Metaphysics"
will make it too complicated for the FAQ purpose, but the point about
Lila Blewitt being possessed by Quality - instead of the other way
round - is valid, and I have added it in my version. (Doug will have
something to contribute to the "Catechism" I believe!)

About Hugo's objection to Intellectual Quality as "Any phenomenon
that propagates subject/object thinking..." etc. Well, it is a
difficult level to define, and the easiest way is to revert to the
negative,i.e.: "Freedom from social constraints", but the other
levels are positively defined, so it won't do. (Nov.21 addendum): I
see that this has developed into a new thread. Back in the LS "stone
age" when we discussed the emergence of the Intellect, I broached the
idea that the top level can be en as SOM itself, so I am not
disturbed by the Diana/Platt definition. The Static Intellectual
Level is but one dimension of the Quality totality. Platt's limiting
it to "just thinking" is OK (if the SOM mind significance is
suspended), but I have droppe all "mentality" from my FAQ version.
I have also added the negative aspect to all levels.
                          ----------------------------------------

Here are my suggestions to amendments and additions to the FAQ
(.....underlined where I have a different version). There is nothing
wrong with the list as it stands, I just want it as terse as
possible. And Diana, feel free to rework my formulations if they
appear awkward. English is not my first language after all.

1. What is a metaphysics?

A metaphysics is a theory that explains the fundamental nature and
structure of reality.

2. What is Quality?

Quality is moral value. It may also be described as goodness or
rightness. Quality may also be understood as experience, the pure
direct experience of "now".

(Quality may be understood as the pure, pre-everything experience.
It may also be called value, goodness, rightness and morals.)
...................................................

3. What is the Metaphysics of Quality?

The Metaphysics of Quality is a theory that says that the
fundamental nature of reality is that it is moral value (also called
Quality, goodness, experience etc). This value is divided first into
dynamic and static patterns of value. The static patterns e further
divided into four levels of value -- inorganic, biological, social
and intellectual.

(The Metaphysics of Quality (MOQ) is an all-embracing theory whose
first claim is that there is nothing but value. It goes on to say
that in the dynamic ocean there have formed stable wave patterns
called Static Value. It recognizes four such Static Value Patterns
(also known as: Levels, dimensions, areas. planes or phases.). They
are in rising order of good: Inorganic-Organic-Social and
Intellectual
. ....................................................

4. What is dynamic quality?

Dynamic quality is the source of all things, the pre- intellectual
cutting edge of reality. It is recognized as freedom, newness,
beauty, change, wonder, the unexpected, any phenomenon that
transcends the run of everyday experience.

(Dynamic Quality is the fluidity-change component of existence.)
....................................................

5. What is static quality?

Static quality is what gives order to the world. It provides a latch
for the advances made by dynamic quality. It is recognized as
routine, structure, normality, organization, conformity, the
expected, stability, any pheonomenon that shows resistance to ange.

(Static Quality is the structuring-stability component of
existence.)

6. What is inorganic quality?

Inorganic quality is what is usually understood as matter.

(Inorganic Quality is what resists chaos. It is also known as the
physical universe)
. ...............................................

7. What is biological quality?

Biological quality is life and that which propagates life.

(Static Biological Quality is what resists Inorganic dissolution.
It is also known as Life.)
...............................................

8. What is social quality?

Social quality is any phenomenon that propagates social order -
laws, institutions, manners, classes, castes, religion, fashions and
so on.

(Static Social Quality is what resists biological indulgence for the
sake of a greater good.)
...............................................

9. What is intellectual quality?

Intellectual quality is any phenomenon that propagates
subject-object thinking - democracy, freedom of speech, mathematics,
philosophy and so on.

(Static Intellectual Quality is what resists social coercion for the
sake of individual freedom. Its most basic expression is the sense of
self as different from environment (more worth than society), but has
manifested lately as Habeas Corpus, Magna Charta, The right to vote,
Human rights, Democracy etc.)
...............................................

10. How do humans fit into the four levels of Static Quality?

People are cohesions of changing static patterns of value. All
living humans and all animals and plants are biological value because
of the very fact that they are alive. A human who has been raised in
a society will also be possessed by social values. T se values may be
recognized in the form of beliefs, behavior, speech patterns, customs
and so on. Humans raised in most modern societies are also possessed
by intellectual value. This is recognized as an ability to reason.

(People are cohesion of changing static patterns of value. Humans
are Inorganic value because the body is composed of matter. Humans
are Biological value because they are living organisms. Humans are
Social value to the extent that their community determines their
thoughts and actions. Finally: Humans are Intellectual value to the
extent that individuality dominates thoughts and actions.)
...............................................

11. Why did Pirsig say that Lila had quality?

Lila Blewitt, the subject of Robert M Pirsig's novel LILA, was
described as having high biological quality because she was an
attractive, voluptuous, and presumably fertile woman. Biologically
her body was high value both for itself and for its implied a lity to
bring forth more life. Lila was also described as having low social
quality -- she was working class, had no social connections nor
standing, and was a sometime prostitute. Neither did she have much
intellectual quality, her thought patterns show ttle rationality or
sense. However Lila was also described as having high dynamic
quality. This is because she was a person who sought to break free
from her static patterns of value.

(RichardRigel, who asked Phædrus if Lila had quality, viewed things
from the Subject/Object vantage point, and from there Society is
merely an assembly of rules that the subjects are supposed to abide
by, while Intellect is the said subjct's ability to think fast and
smart about how to rise in social esteem, and Lila failed badly in
both aspects. From the MOQ perspective however, the perspective
changed (see FAQ no.10) Lila has lots of value. Or, as Phædrus later
emphasized: Quality has lots of Lila(s)).
...............................................

12. How do the different levels of quality relate to each other?

(The relationship is of a one-way dependency kind, like an upper
storey of a house is dependent upon the lower one. The Inorganic
quality is the basement upon which everything is raised and it can't
be removed without collapsing the whole edifice. According to the
MOQ, each quality level started "in the service" of its parent level,
and as such indistinguishable from it, but grew to become an
independent cause.
 ...............................................

13. What exactly are values?

[This question is the same as "What is Quality".]

--------------------------------------------------------------
(The following are my new additions.)

14. How can biological and inorganic objects be composed of value?

(If the physical world is Inorganic value patterns, then all
material "objects" are composed of value. Similarly are living
"objects" composed of Biological value patterns on top of the
Inorganic value framework.

15. If the world is composed of values then who is doing the valueing?

No one in the Subject/Object sense, but to a human being who
straddles all quality levels, only one is highlighted at a time.
Bodily sensations, needs or urges (instincts) bring focus to the
Biological level. Impulses from the social "body" we identify w h,
bring focus to that value plane. In our culture the focus dwells
mostly on the Intellect; reality is tinted by the attic window
glass, but attention shifts easily. A toothache and existence is
seen from two rungs down.

                                        -------------

There are more questions, so come on folks, enter your suggestions!

Bo

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