From: Paul Turner (paulj.turner@ntlworld.com)
Date: Sat Aug 23 2003 - 22:55:20 BST
Hi Matt, Squonk
> squonk: Yes, Quality is an invention, but the term Quality points
> to the
> pre-intellectual source of aesthetic harmony.
Matt:
Hmm, I would read that annotation and that passage from ZMM again
Squonk. I don't think Quality points to anything other than another
series of words, like "socially approved evaluations" or "undefined".
Paul:
Without arguing about the merits or "truth" of your pragmatist argument,
you're wrong about what Pirsig uses the term "Dynamic Quality" to point
to. [Pirsig quotes taken from Ant McWatts "Pirsig's MOQ" posted on MOQ
Forum in the essay section]:
"The Dynamic reality that goes beyond words is the constant focus of Zen
teaching. Because of their habituation to a world of words, philosophers
do not often understand Zen. When philosophers have trouble
understanding the distinction between static and Dynamic Quality it can
be because they are trying to include and subordinate all Quality to
thought patterns. The distinction between static and Dynamic quality is
intended to block this."
"...The logical positivists fundamental error in my opinion is the
assumption that because philosophy is about words it is therefore about
words alone. This is the fallacy of "devouring the menu instead of the
meal". Their common argumentative tactic is to say that anything they
cannot feed through their little box of linguistic analysis is not
philosophy. But if discussion about "the good" (which is fundamentally
beyond words) is not philosophy then Socrates was not a philosopher
since that was his primary subject."
Paul
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