Hi Struan and all,
JONATHAN:
"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."
STRUAN:
So you will see that my initial lack of an answer was a result of my
agreement with you on the substantive point that you made. I therefore
felt
it unnecessary for me to continue the argument and regret that you
interpreted this as me ignoring what you wrote. I did not. I accepted it
as
a perfectly reasonable position and was grateful for it.
That's all very well Struan, but you ignored the bits before and after
the extract you quoted from my post. I remind you that the issue under
discussion is not my personal view of morality, but whether or not
Pirsig's framework has something to offer on the subject. Will you now
please address the issue.
(Here is a fuller extract of my said post)
JONATHAN:
<quote>
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.
Now Struan, if you completely reject every aspect of Pirsig's
philosophy, please explain why you reject the above.
</quote>
Jonathan
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