Platt Holden (pholden@worldnet.att.net)
Sat, 3 Jan 1998 21:50:26 +0100
Hi Lila Squad.
Here is my offering of the basic principles of the MoQ. I wholeheartedly
agree with Diana that without agreement on the basic Principles, a lot of
Squad's exchanges amount to little more than intelligent but insignificant
cocktail party talk. What we're dealing with here is nothing less than a
huge paradigm shift on a par with Einstein's relativity. If it is to
survive and have any influence, it must "latched" with deep tap roots of
comprehension and believability. I apologize for the length, but to
condense a 400 page book that will, in Diana' s challenge "cover
everything," and still have some semblance of meaning I found a truly
daunting task. To what degree I've been successful is for your evaluation.
Principles of the Metaphysics of Quality
1. The Quality Principle. Quality is simultaneously an immanent and
transcendent moral force. It created and gave purpose to our world,
motivated by the ethical principle of the "Good" which is its essence.
Quality is synonymous with "morality" and "value." Thus, the world is
primarily a moral order, consisting not of subjects (mental things) and
objects (material things) but patterns of value.
2. The Awareness Principle. The essence of quality is known to us as
awareness without content—pure, unpatterned experience. As such, it's
impossible to describe. Whenever we try, we end up describing what we are
aware of, not awareness itself.
3. The Dynamic/Static Principle. To explain the inexplicable, the
Metaphysics of Quality divides quality into two parts, Dynamic and Static.
Dynamic Quality is the moral imperative to create; Static Quality is the
moral imperative to survive.
4. The Levels Principle. Quality became manifest in our world by an
evolutionary sequence of Dynamic Quality Events. Left in the wake of these
events were four static levels of evolution—inorganic, biological, social
and intellectual. Each level is a static pattern of Quality, organized and
governed by its own unique moral laws—the laws of physics, biology, culture
and reason respectively.
5. The Awareness Hierarchy Principle. Each higher level evolved from and
included the lower but expanded awareness. For example, the intellectual
level can apprehend mathematical patterns that the lower levels cannot.
Also, all levels possess, in addition to environmental awareness, an
awareness of values. Even a lowly virus knows what's good for it.
6. The Moral Hierarchy Principle. Because higher levels are more aware,
they are more moral than levels below. Intellectual patterns take moral
precedence over social patterns, social patterns over biological and
biological patterns over inorganic.
7. The First Dominance Principle. Because a lower level is largely unaware
of levels above it, it considers itself to be the most moral and strives to
dominate other levels. What is moral and lawful at one level is often
immoral and unlawful at another. For example, biological laws defy the laws
of physics.
8. The Second Dominance Principle. Static patterns within levels that
humans identify as entities are possessed by varying degrees of Quality
depending on their affinity to the next higher or lower level. They often
try to devour other patterns to enhance their own survival. This causes
suffering, the negative face of Quality that drives the creative process.
9. The Dependency Principle. When a higher level attempts to assert its
moral dominance over a lower level, it must be careful that it does not
endanger the stability of the lower level on which it ultimately depends
for survival. For example, if the intellect in its quest for freedom from
social inhibitions causes social instability, intellect will suffer.
10. The Individual Principle. At the present stage of moral evolution, only
living beings can respond to Dynamic Quality. Humans, composites of all
four levels, are the most capable of responding. However, responses to and
evaluations of Quality vary by individual because each has a different
static pattern of life history.
11. The Truth Principle. Truth, an intellectual value pattern, is a species
of Good. There's no single, exclusive truth, but those of high quality are
empirical, logical, elegant and brief. In any case, it's immoral for truth
to be subordinated to social values.
12. The Freedom Principle. To create ever higher levels of awareness,
Dynamic Quality strives for freedom from all static patterns. Freedom is
the core value and highest Good in the Metaphysics of Quality. Thus, the
best social and intellectual patterns are those that promote freedom
consistent with maintaining the static patterns necessary for survival.
13. The Proof Principle. That reality is morality strikes most people as
loony. But in denying that the world is a moral order they have to employ
moral judgment. They cannot refute that Quality is reality without
asserting a value. And they will have to concede that it's impossible to
live without assumptions of what is Good. For life requires action, action
presupposes choice, choice presupposes purpose and purpose presupposes
values.
Platt
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