Simon,
Pirsig's metaphysics is simply a way of dividing the world into concepts,
nothing more, nothing less. He explained that there is no way to design a
perfect metaphysics because that would be like trying to design a perfect
game of chess. there will always be holes in both. Within the MOQ
framework, ideas have precedence over society because ideas are a higher form
of evolution than society, and so on down the evolution chain. as human
beings we recognize where we are and where we have evolved from. we have
precedence over the lower forms of evolution, but only when those lower forms
interfere with our own evolution, or 'migration towards DQ,' which is
basically what evolution is. Pirsig doesnt say that it's moral to fight
against slavery only because he is a 20th century liberal; within the MOQ,
ideas have precedence over human beings, ideas being the product of humans
and human thought.
i think DQ does get closer to us as time goes on, but not in a straight line.
there are always setbacks and digressions. That's why i see life as a
migration towards these Dynamic patterns, we never actually attain it, but we
sense it and we go after it, individually and collectively, and that whole
journey to me is what comprises a meaningful life. like Pirsig says, 'It is
better to travel than to arrive.'
Okay, now im pissed because i wrote a whole paragraph about the differences
between Quality and morality that i have to delete now that i just came
across this passage from Lila:
'Quality is morality. Make no mistake about it. They're identical. And if
Quality is the primary reality of the world then that means morality is also
the primary reality of the world. The world is primary a moral order.'
But you have to keep in mind the definition of morality to Pirsig: not just
rigid, Victorian-esque codes, but the value-judgments and perceptions that
arise from the MOQ.
Rasheed
ps that sheep example was hilarious, where'd you get that from? I have a
few qualifications, basically that the subject must be a fully functioning
homo sapien, but that's about it.
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