Ant McWatt (ant11@liverpool.ac.uk)
Thu, 11 Dec 1997 17:23:03 +0100
11th December 1997
PROGRAM Basics of the MOQ.
Hello everyone,
Here goes my first contribution to the Lila Squad!
The following is an abstract of an essay I wrote earlier this year.
Hopefully, in the process of refinement I`ve kept in the most basic
tenets of the MOQ and ignored the more secondary elements without
losing too much coherence. Maybe the examples could be
taken out though this might reduce the clarity of the
principles.
Please speak up if you think I`ve overlooked anything
FUNDAMENTAL.
Best Wishes,
Anthony McWatt.
ROBERT PIRSIG`S "METAPHYSICS OF QUALITY"
1. What is metaphysics?
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature of
reality, including the relationship between mind and matter,
substance and attribute, fact and value.
2. What is the "Metaphysics of Quality" (MOQ)?
The Metaphysics of Quality is a theory developed by Robert Pirsig to
describe and explain the nature of Quality (and its synonym Value).
3. What does Pirsig mean by the term "Quality"?
Well, in "Lila" he states that it is "the first slice of undivided
experience" ("Lila", Bantam Press, 1991, P.111).
That is to say immediate experience BEFORE any division the mind may
make before internal or external states.
4. So what is meant by "immediate experience"?
Immediate refers to the present or to be more technical where time t =
0.
Experience, in this context, is an awareness of the changing flux of
reality. Therefore, immediate experience means "awareness of the
changing flux of reality at time t = zero".
5. Pirsig divides Quality (or "immediate experience") into "Dynamic
Quality" and "static quality". So how is Dynamic Quality differentiated
from static quality?
Dynamic Quality is the term given by Pirsig to the continually changing
flux of immediate reality while static quality refers to anything
abstracted from this flux.
Dynamic Quality refers to the divine in experience and can only be
understood properly through direct apprehension. Hence the use of
the term "dynamic" which indicates something not fixed or determinate.
Ultimately, it is apparent that Dynamic Quality can`t be defined and
that
true understanding of it can only be given through a mystic experience
such as enlightenment.
6. So what is static quality then?
By static Pirsig doesn`t refer to something that lacks movement in the
Newtonian sense of the word but is referring to any repeated arrangement
whether "inorganic" (e.g. chemicals), "organic" (e.g. plants), "social"
(e.g. ant nests) or "intellectual" (e.g. ideas)i.e. any pattern that
appears long enough to be noticed within the flux of immediate
experience.
7. How do these four static patterns of quality relate?
The MOQ recognizes that the four static patterns of quality are
related through EVOLUTION. If the Big Bang is taken as the starting
point of the universe, it is seen that at this point of time there were
only inorganic quality patterns. That is to say chemicals and quantum
forces.
Since then, at successive stages of history, plants and animals have
evolved from inorganic patterns, societies have evolved from
biological patterns, and intellect has evolved from societies.
8. Why is evolution an important consideration in the MOQ?
Though each level of static patterns have emerged from the one below,
each level follows its own different laws i.e. there are physical laws
such as gravity (inorganic), the laws of the jungle (biology),
co-operation between animals (society), and the ideas of freedom and
rights (intellect). It is important to note that the different laws of
the four static levels often clash e.g. adultery (biological good) v.
family stability (social good).
9. How is a code of ethics generated from these four levels?
The MOQ combines the four levels of patterns to produce one overall
moral framework based on evolutionary development. The entity that has
more freedom on the evolutionary scale (i.e. the one that is more
Dynamic)
is the one that takes moral precedence. So, for instance, a human being
is seen as having moral precedence over a dog because a human being is
at a higher level of evolution.
10. So what`s the value of such a moral framework?
By removing morals from social convention and placing them on a
scientifically based theory of evolution the MOQ removes much of the
cultural subjectivity that is inherent in many ethical beliefs.
Moreover, by the use of evolution, the MOQ brings together
things previously difficult to relate such as mind and matter.
Finally, though it may be argued that a metaphysics that incorporates a
central term that isn`t defined (i.e. Dynamic Quality) isn`t a real
metaphysics, it can also be argued that the strength of the MOQ is its
ability to incorporate the indeterminate divine within a coherent and
logical paradigm.
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