Martin Striz (striz1@MARSHALL.EDU)
Tue, 2 Dec 1997 05:49:58 +0100
Oh I'm perfectly aware of the temporal value of the pies to each person, but
Mike isn't. He's a formidable opponent in the Rationalist tradition. A
great Kantian. He loves John Stuart Mill and Dostoevsky. You should browse
his webpage at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/4534 . I'm
continually laying the Pragmatist approach on him. As William James said,
first principles can be flawed and are riddled with assumptions, the true
value of a position is found in its consequences, its cash-value results.
Pirsig agrees when he says metaphysical positions are presuppositions. A
map with the north pole in the center is no more "right" than a Mercator
projection. It may look a little funny at first, but in the arctic it's the
best map to have. Similarly, the MOQ is the best metaphysical map to have
these days, but you can't see that until you examine the practical effects
of such a view. Yet he continues to insist on first principles and rational
proofs for the existence of "Quality."
>> Now,
>> there's just one problem with that. I can't demonstrate it to Mike.
>> :-)
>>
>And unless Mike agrees to step outside of intellectualizing, you never
>will. You are doomed to suffer the fate of their circular argument,
>Martin. "You're talking about faith," they'll say. In the end, they're
>right
Then how do you get them to step outside of the intellectual circle? He's a
materialist, so I always tell him his ontology falls into determinism, which
he really hates. He doesn't like hearing that, he tries to argue around it.
But you can't get people to step outside of 'rationalizing' for some reason.
They don't seem to care about what's practical, what's Good.
Martin
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