Hi Struan and all,
> JONATHAN:
> "I note that the basis of Struan's attack on Pirsig is exactly BECAUSE
> the MoQ fails to provide a set of rules of morality. I (consider?) it
> unreasonable even to expect such rules . . ."
STRUAN
> I agree that it is unreasonable to expect this. I wonder if you,
Jonathan,
> are in agreement with me that the ethical examples in Lila cannot be
> reasonably justified and that Pirsig is wrong when he tells us that
every
> ethical dilemma can be placed into his framework to give us an
absolutely
> scientific answer, which is binding upon all men for all times?
First, I agree that some of the ethical examples in Lila are not
particularly good.
However, I do not appreciate Struan's misrepresentation: Pirsig does NOT
say that his framework gives us an "absolutely scientific answer, which
is binding upon all men for all times".
What he DOES say is that his framework gives us the ability to analyze
moral decisions "more scientifically" and more precisely than before.
Personally, I still think that Pirsig overstates his case, but I see no
compelling reason to reject his framework altogether. Pirsig has
presented the evolutionary relationship between levels in a way that I
interpret as evolution of complexity. The more complex patterns
encompass a wider viewpoint than less complex patterns. There's a
passage somewhere in Lila (or was in ZAMM?) where Pirsig discusses "the
big picture" vs. short-term gain. That's where I think the key to the
whole morality question lies. To my way of thinking, it is ALWAYS more
moral to take account of the biggest picture possible. Rules and laws
exist to save us the trouble, and in most cases it is good practice to
follow them . . . . . UNTIL one sees a bigger picture that indicates
otherwise.
Jonathan
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 - 16:00:58 BST