Mary et al
I don't think that the intellectual level "came into being" at the end of the
Victorian era, it simply moved into dominance. Intellectuality came into being
at the emergence of homo sapiens, with the invention of the first abstract
concept. At some point some caveman thought "If I take that rock and chip that
bit there off, it will work better". It simply was not the driving force behind
human society until much later.
I stick to my point that money is an abstract method of quantifying value. This
abstraction is strictly within the intellectual realm. Money has existed for
3000 years or so, but so has mathematics and philosophy, and I think there would
be consensus that they are properly part of the intellectual level. Like
mathematics and philosophy, these concepts have been made subservient at times
(or at least attempts have been made to make them subservient) to social or
biological values (eg. the 1850 plans by the government of Indiana to set the
value of pi to 3.2), and conflict and grief comes when these value systems
clash. The fact that money can be used to achieve fulfillment of biological or
social values is merely a reflection of the fact that money can be used to
quantify all forms of value. People pay to achieve consciousness raising
seminars which is an attempt to purchase DQ, for instance (an attempt doomed to
failure IMHO).
People will always need a method of exchanging value. I do not yet see an
alternative. The idea of a Star Trek universe where every need is fulfilled
without money is shot down by Pirsig in that such a system could not control
the conflict between social, biological and intellectual values.
Warmest regards
Manning
Mary wrote:
> Hi Manning,
>
> I see money a little differently I guess. It seems to me that lots of stuff
> that properly resides at the social level was thought up. But that doesn't
> mean those things should reside at the intellectual level. We had brains
> before we had an intellectual level, and we used those brains to construct
> society. Money, to me, is a tool. A handy tool to replace the
> inconvenience of barter. It is an abstract notion, true, but that is not my
> understanding of the criteria for the intellectual level. Remember how
> Pirsig says the intellectual level didn't come into being until the end of
> the Victorian era? I think he was pointing out that the intellectual level
> arose when the idea began to flourish that SOM "truth" should be free from
> the taboos of society.
>
> Your thoughts?
>
> Wishing you happiness,
> Mary
>
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