Hi All:
Ever since it's been brought to light that Pirsig (Phaedrus) considers
eating meat to be immoral, I wondered what other specific activities the
Great Author judges to be immoral. A review of LILA has unearthed the
following no-no's in Pirsig's world. Here are 12 specific immoral acts
according to the MOQ.
A. It is immoral to make a movie out of a metaphysics, and
presumably, any work that is primarily an intellectual pattern of value.
>From this I assume it was immoral to make *The Fountainhead*
starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal.
B. It is immoral for a society to restrain truth for its own purposes. From
this I assume all the democrats and their sycophants in the press who
restrained the truth about Kennedy's sexual escapades acted
immorally.
C. It is immoral for children to be dominated by their parents. From this
I assume disciplining a child is immoral.
D. It is immoral to speak against a people because of their genetic
characteristics. From this I assume one should not speak ill of another
solely on the basis of his skin color.
E. It is NOT immoral to speak against a person because of his cultural
characteristics if those cultural characteristics are immoral. From this I
assume one is right to speak out against member of a ghetto gang no
matter the individual’s ethnic background.
F. It is immoral to put philosophy in the service of any social
organization or dogma. From this I assume it was immoral for
America's founding fathers to draw upon English philosophers for their
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
G. It is immoral for truth to be subordinated to social values. From this
Pirsig concludes that the practicality test of truth of William James is
not only immoral, but dangerous.
H. It is immoral for philosophers of science to try to suppress Dynamic
Quality. From this I assume that Kuhn, Feyerabend and other modern
philosophers of science are correct in saying that scientific truth, like
moral truth, is relative.
I. It is immoral for sane people to force cultural conformity by
suppressing the Dynamic drives that produce insanity. From this I
assume the MOQ approves of legalizing drugs.
J. It is immoral to commit suicide.
K. It is immoral to “karma dump” on an invented devil group like Jews,
blacks, whites, capitalists, communists, etc. From this I assume Hillary
Clinton was immoral to blame right wing extremists for her husband’s
infidelity.
L. It is immoral to create a metaphysics. From this I assume Pirsig’s
excuse, *Ahh, do it anyway* is the same excuse he uses when he
enjoys a fat, juicy steak.
In case anyone is interested, I object to A, C, F, H, I and L and wonder
if others, like me, can’t buy Pirsig’s moral sanctions completely.
Platt
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