Hi Horse, Struan and Group:
HORSE:
I’m going to get really pissed off if someone gives me the standard Pirsig
fudge that our actions are free when we follow DQ, ‘cause if we don’t
CHOOSE our course then we are not FREE. Are we continually being blown
about by the wind of DQ or can we make a choice of the most Dynamic
action. Choice still comes into the equation and the question of whether we
have it or not still needs to be answered.
PLATT:
Pirsig’s answer is: We have choice. Even atomic particles have choice.
PIRSIG:
In classical science it was supposed that the world always works in terms of
absolute certainty and that ‘cause’ is the more appropriate word to describe
it. But in modern quantum physics all that is changed. Particles ‘PREFER’
to do what they do. (Lila, Chap. 8, emphasis added)
PLATT:
PREFER presupposes CHOICE. Bertrand Russell confirms Pirsig’s insight.
He said, “So far as quantum theory can say at present, atoms might as well
be possessed of free will, limited, however to one of several possible
choices”.
It’s clear throughout the MoQ that entities are free to choose to follow DQ,
restricted only by static patterns.
PIRSIG:
In general, given a CHOICE of two courses TO FOLLOW and all other things
being equal, that CHOICE which is more Dynamic, that is, at a higher level of
evolution, is more moral. (Chap.13, emphasis added.)
STURAN:
. . . following dq does not equate to having a choice to do so.
PLATT:
Flatly contradicted in the quote cited above.
STRUAN:
Randomness is the antithesis of free will . . .
PLATT:
Irrelevant, a red herring. DQ is not randomness.
PIRSIG:
But Dynamic Quality is not structured and yet it IS NOT CHAOTIC. It is value
that cannot be contained by static patterns. (Chap. 11, emphasis added)
PLATT:
I dislike having to quote Pirsig so much, but sometimes it’s necessary to set
the record straight. There’s simply no reason to believe that following the
value of DQ is anything other than free choice.
Make no mistake about it, you are free to become better, be better, do
better—“to choose an elegant mathematical solution to a laborious one, or a
brilliant experiment to a confusing, inconclusive one.” (Chap. 29)
Nothing in the MoQ precludes such free CHOICES, including you’re free
choice to disagree with the MoQ. But you’re not free under the canons of
intellectual morality to misrepresent the MoQ.
Platt
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
MD Queries - horse@wasted.demon.nl
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:00:37 BST