LS Re: Simplified FAQ


Platt Holden (pholden@worldnet.att.net)
Mon, 1 Dec 1997 04:23:04 +0100


Maggie wrote:

> Platt, I think you've provided the text of that children's book I've
> been
> wanting and needing. I see this as a picture book, with full-page
> artwork.
> Do you have illustrations for this as well?
>
> Do you mind if I try, too?

Thanks for asking. By all means, feel free to use, add, delete, change and
otherwise adopt the simplified FAQ to your exciting children's book
project. Here are some more simple answers to Diana's list of questions.

What is Subject-Object Metaphysics (SOM)?
The theory that the world contains nothing but subjects (mind) and objects
(matter).

What is wrong with SOM?
It cannot explain values.

Why is the MoQ better than SOM?
It explains values and solves the mind-matter problem.

What is the mind-matter problem?
How can matter generate thought?

How does the MoQ solve the mind-matter problem?
Quality, the creative source of all things, is neither mind nor matter but
a distinct category of its own.

If the world is composed of moral values or goodness why is there so much
suffering in the world?
Suffering is caused by battles for dominance between and within value
levels. When someone dies, Biological patterns lose the battle to Inorganic
patterns. But Biological patterns win in the end because life goes on.

Is Quality the same worldwide and in all cultures?
Yes. Every culture relies on patterns of social quality to survive. The
patterns themselves, however, are often different from culture to culture.

Is Quality goal seeking?
Yes. Each level has succeeded in attaining more freedom than the previous
level.

Is Quality purposeful?
Yes. It's purpose is to be free of all static patterns.

Is Quality self-regulating?
Quality is not a "self" -- an object. It is distinct from subjects and
objects, but not separate. It pervades everything.

Does the level of Quality rise as it raises the level of static quality?
To the degree that each subsequent level has more freedom, it has more
Quality.

What does the MoQ say about religion?
Religion is a static social value pattern that has no right to dominate the
higher intellectual pattern.

What does the MoQ say about artificial intelligence? Nothing specifically.
But one can deduce that Al is the attempt of the intellectual pattern to
recreate or duplicate itself in an inorganic pattern (electronic circuits).

What does the MoQ say about art?
Art attempts to create aesthetic awareness which comes closer to Quality
than other kinds of awareness such as Social or Intellectual.

What other philosophies are consistent with the MoQ?
Pirsig credits William James and Alfred North Whitehead as being consistent
with the MOQ.

What do we need to do to replace SOM with the MOQ?
 Nothing. Awareness of the MoQ will evolve because it explains reality
better than other philosophies.

Platt

--
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