RE: MD What is a fact?

From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sat Apr 05 2003 - 20:07:48 BST

  • Next message: David Buchanan: "RE: MD What is a fact?"

    Platt, Sam and all:

    Platt said:
    Which leads to an interesting question. If we accept Pirsig's definition of
    the intellectual level to be the same as mind, and if mind is "the
    collection and manipulation of symbols created in the brain, that stand for
    patterns of experience," and if symbols are only meaningful in the context
    (thanks Rick) of a society, then is not intellect basically social?

    Sam responded:
    Or - does not society (as we experience it) saturated with intellect? We can
    still debate the hows, whys and whens of the interaction. BTW I think this
    is an area where my 'eudaimonic' MoQ manages to avoid problems....

    DMB chimes in:
    I don't think there's a problem to avoid. I mean, both social and
    intellectual values co-exist in us. No problem. That's no reason to confuse
    one with the other. It works the same way collectively too. In our society,
    as Ken Wilber puts it, pre-modern, modern and postmodern currents all exist
    in our culture simultaneously. When we characterize any given nation or
    culture, we are only identifying the center of gravity, saying which current
    or currents best characterize it. The same goes for people. Like Lila, she's
    got some social values, but she's pretty far down the scale, so we say she's
    dominated by biological values. That and her Dynamism are what Pirsig could
    point to when asked if she had Quality. Rigel has an intellect, but that's
    not his center of gravity. He's a social level man. The author can have sex
    with Lila and have chatty beers with Rigel, but he's dominated by
    intellectual values - and then some. My point? We can allow that both
    societies and individuals are complex forests of static patterns. it does
    NOT follow from this complexity, however, that the top two levels are mixed
    or fused or indistinct.

    Thanks,
    DMB

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