LS Re: Breakneck Kant 2


Jason Gaedtke (jgaedtke@gb.frontiernet.net)
Tue, 24 Feb 1998 10:04:52 +0100


"One (shouldn't) argue against a theory until one can state the theory
in such
a way that those who hold it recognize his correct understanding of it."

LS,
I've been "lurking" for quite some time now, but several recent LS
contributions have seriously piqued my interest. It seems to me that
Donald
has some very important points to share with us. Most importantly, he
can (and
has) offered an eloquent understanding/interpretation of the MoQ that
has not
been significantly influenced by the discussion that has taken place on
this
forum over the past few months. Unfortunately, the disharmony that his
original ideas are producing with our "fundamentals" seems to be
producing some
violent backlash.

Personally, I feel that I have experienced many important insights and
subtleties regarding Pirsig's thought, thanks to my participation in
this
exchange. Each time something is gained, however, something else must
necessarily be lost. (Modern physics -- a hot topic here on the LS --
has much
to say about this, I believe.) I think that the sacrifice that we as a
group
have made in advancing a collective "understanding" of Pirsig's thought
has
been our open-mindedness.

Not too long ago we were each in the same situation that Donald is
facing now.
 At that time we were each at each other's throats in defense of the
"true"
MoQ. As ugly as this may sound, I don't think that these
confrontational
patterns are necessarily that bad for us as individuals or for the
LilaSquad as
a whole. First off, they force us to carefully examine the details of
our
personal system of beliefs. Secondly, and more importantly, they
provide the
Dynamic impetus to propel us (upward?) out of our comfortable Static
latches
and (potentially) into the next ascendant evolutionary pattern.

Having said all this -- and worn my welcome sort with many of you, I
fear -- I
would like to wrap things up by thanking Donald for the time that he has
invested in his "Breakneck Kant" posts. I've learning a great deal from
your
comments, and I look forward to learning more in the future.

Personally, I can also relate to your comments regarding your previous
urge to
"fortify" Pirsig's work by boning up on the fundamentals of western
philosophy.
 I've read somewhere that the only people that we can truly learn from
are
those that are traveling on a path similar to our own. It seems that
Donald
and I share a similar path, although he has obviously advanced much
farther
than I have at this point. I'm hoping that we can all learn from his
experiences.

Regards,
Jason

PS
Donald, would you be willing to share a few of the specific points that
you
alluded to earlier in which Hegelian and/or Kantian philosophy proved
superior
to Pirsig's?

 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu May 13 1999 - 16:42:48 CEST