Hiya Platt
On 22 Nov 2001 at 10:10, Platt Holden wrote:
> Hi Horse:
>
> Here's a good example of how there can be more than one
> interpretation of Pirsig. You interpret the passage as being a comment
> about capitalism. I interpret it to be a comment about people who think
> they are holier-than-thou, i.e., superior to others because they believe
> in an undefined "humanitarian" morality.
>
> The old adage, "We see what we want to see" has certainly been
> validated on this site.
But hopefully we don't "disregard the rest" - I think that line comes from the Paul Simon song "The
Boxer".
Anyway.....
Ouch! My fault Platt - that'll teach to bang one out quickly before I go to work. This passage isn't
specifically to do with capitalism but the way in which P. lumps together moral values based on
capitalism (hardly a humanitarian morality!!!!) with other narrow interest moral systems. One of the
things that I love about the MoQ (you're gonna hate this bit) is that it envisages a holistic approach
which is completely at odds with these types of moral systems. The main reason that I posted it was to
illustrate that although Pirsig considers the free market to be of great benefit this is not the same as
him saying the same thing about capitalism and capitalists:
PIRSIG:
On the other hand the conservatives who keep trumpeting about the virtues of free enterprise are
normally just supporting their own self-interest. They are just doing the usual cover-up for the rich in
their age-old exploitation of the poor. Some of them seem to sense there is also something
mysteriously virtuous in a free enterprise system and you can see them struggling to put it into words
but they don't have the metaphysical vocabulary for it any more than the socialists do.
Chapter 17
In fact, Pirsig doesn't seem to have a lot of good things to say about capitalism or capitalists per se,
accepting that it is actually LESS moral (from a static point of view) than Socialism. He does extol the
virtues of the free market though, but the free market isn't the exclusive domain of capitalists nor is it
the case that the free market can be applied to all aspects of life.
Anyway, I'm not taking a pop at anyone nor condemning anyone for being a capitalist so I hope this
isn't taken that way.
Horse
>
> Platt
>
>
> > Just a quickie to show that Mr P. isn't entirely convinced that all things capitalist are
> > best.
> >
> > "There are so many kinds of problem people like Rigel around, he thought, but the ones who go
> > posing as moralists are the worst. Cost-free morals. Full of great ways for others to improve
> > without any expense to themselves. There's an ego thing in there, too. They use the morals to
> > make someone else look inferior and that way look better themselves. It doesn't matter what
> > the moral code is - religious morals, political morals, racist morals, capitalist morals,
> > feminist morals, hippie morals - they're all the same. The moral codes change but the meanness
> > and the egotism stay the same."
> >
> > R.M.Pirsig LILA Chapter 7
>
>
>
>
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