From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Dec 16 2004 - 13:59:56 GMT
Hi MSH, All:
> >arlo said:
>
> All this talk of absolutes also reminds me of the "law of gravity"
> part of the chatauqua. "So there was this 'absolute', sitting there,
> having no mass of its own, no energy of its own, not in anyone's mind
> because there wasn't anyone, not in space because there was no space
> either, no anywhere - this 'absolute' still existed?"
>
> Pirsig continues:
> "Laws of nature are human inventions, like ghosts. Laws of logic, of
> mathematics are also human inventions, like ghosts. The whole blessed thing
> is a human invention, including the idea that it 'isn't' a human invention.
> The world has no existence whatsoever outside the human imagination."
>
> msh asks:
> Yes, this comment has always troubled me. "The world has no
> existence whatsoever outside the human imagination." Is Pirsig an
> Idealist or an Empiricist or what?
The comment troubles me, too. As said, it's pure Idealism.
> I can see how the laws of nature
> and logic might be said to exist in our imaginations, but everything? Is
> this just some poetic enthusiasm from way back, near the beginning of ZMM,
> to support the ol' ghosts around the campfire setting?
>
> What do y'all think he means? Is there something OUT THERE, or not?
Good question. I doubt if Pirsig would step in front of a truck claiming
it had no existence other than in his imagination.
Platt
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