Diana McPartlin (diana@asiantravel.com)
Mon, 17 Nov 1997 18:14:49 +0100
Hugo Fjelsted Alroe wrote:
>
> Diana:
> >What is intellectual quality?
> >
> >Intellectual quality is any phenomenon that propagates subject-object
> >thinking - democracy, freedom of speech, mathematics, philosophy and so
> >on.
>
> Diana, is Intellectual quality only about subject-object thinking? I would
> say that the kind of thinking Pirsig is promoting is very much part of
> Intellectual quality.
First, I think the MoQ itself IS based on subject-object thinking. It
presents data in a rational and logical format and that's what the
Subject-Object Metaphysics (SOM) is all about.
But, the type of thinking that the MoQ promotes is a different matter
altogether. (We are talking about thinking based on the understanding
that the world is composed of value, right?)
MoQ-thinking seems so different from subject-object thinking that it
can't be on the same level. Or perhaps it's just a very dynamic aspect
of intellectual value.
In chapter 5 when Phaedrus is contemplating whether or not to write the
MoQ he says:
"The trouble was, this was only one part of himself talking. There
was another part that kept saying 'Ahh do it anyway. It's interesting.'
This was the intellectual part that didn't like undefined things"
The intellectual part, apparently, wants everything to be defined and
precise. But MoQ-thinking happily allows things to be undefined,
precisely the opposite of the SOM.
I also find that some of the conclusions of quantum mechanics don't fit
into subject-object thinking. For example the findings that there are
physical events which do not have well-defined causes and that things
"just happen" spontaneously.
I suppose I'm suggesting that there is another "irrational" level above
the "rational" level of the intellect. But I have to say I'm not at all
sure about this. Perhaps Pirsig did intend that all thought and ideas,
rational or otherwise, be considered intellectual value. He doesn't
really spell it out in Lila. I'd appreciate more opinions.
Diana
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