Re: MD Do we all need philosophy?

From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Feb 10 2004 - 14:18:54 GMT

  • Next message: Platt Holden: "Re: MD Truth and Understanding and Knowledge"

    Dan,

    > Platt,
    >
    > Wouldn't what you stated be "your" opinion? "Your" Quality? What if one
    >
    > finds peacefulness with Britany Spears music? What you wrote is something I
    > don't necessarily feel is correct because it appears you are "telling" us
    > what is "right".
    > What am I missing???

    Apparently you're missing what I've written twice before, pointing out the
    difference between taste based on sentiment (feelings) and judgments
    (conceptions) based on intellect. To repeat:

    "David Hume distinguished between personal sentiment and educated
    judgment. "All sentiment is right," he wrote, because "no sentiment
    represents what really is in the object." Sentiment is a matter of
    perception. When it comes to sentiment we may not argue with the admirer.
    But judgment is a different matter. Judgment refers
    to the attempt to make true statements about the objects being considered.

    To put this in Pirsigian terms, your tastes (sensations) are Dynamic
    Quality, judgements of truth (conceptions) are intellectual static
    Quality. Both are values, the former being yours alone, the latter being
    socially influenced.

    So no one can tell you that your tastes are right or wrong. But your
    judgment of what's good and bad in Western music is debatable.

    For example, Pirsig might point out that Britney glorifies sex which is a
    biological level value, a step down from the higher moral level of
    society that was created, among other reasons, to keep biological sex
    under control. The public uproar over the sex and violence depicted in the
    Super Bowl halftime show reflects society's backlash against an attempt by
    the biological level to gain dominance.

    Platt

     
      

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