Dear Platt,
Great Post!
the Bard
----- Original Message -----
From: Platt Holden <pholden@sc.rr.com>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2001 8:55 AM
Subject: MD Taking morals out of the MOQ
> Hi John B.
>
> A paragraph in your post on "Overdoing the dynamic" of 16 Dec brought
> me up short. You wrote:
>
> > A good point. I think the original question assumes a lot, but it works
well
> > as a discussion starter, so that's fine. Pirsig seems muddled in Lila
where
> > at times he identifies dynamic quality or just quality with the good,
and at
> > other times talks about positive and negative quality, eg the hot stove.
I
> > am sorry that he reified the term morals to mean quality, which he says
> > can't be defined. I would be much happier if he had kept the normal
usage
> > for morals, meaning what's good or bad for humans living in society.
Quality
> > undefined leaves all this up in the air!
>
> If Pirsig had taken your advice and removed morality from the MOQ he
> wouldn't have an MOQ at all. Nothing so marks the newness and
> explanatory power of the MOQ than these words from LILA, Chap.7:
>
> "Because 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
> primarily a moral order."
>
> Positive and negative quality, good and bad, depend on conflicts
> between levels, as Pirsig explains:
>
> "It's out of this struggle between conflicting static patterns that the
> concepts of good and evil arise." (LILA, Chap. 13)
>
> Why are are illicit sex, drugs, booze, and gambling considered social
> moral issues? Because they biologically feel "good," but if left
> unchecked can destroy society--a conflict of levels. I see nothing
> "muddled" about that.
>
> But why go on with more examples? The fact that you can't define
> Quality as morality is no reason to throw it out. You can't define a lot
of
> things in this world, like the smell of rose and the taste of chocolate,
> but you know them just the same. You certainly can't define experience
> because that's what you are--quality, morality, value--all wrapped up
> into one human being called John B, made up of static patterns of
> value and capable of responding to Dynamic Quality.
>
> Unless the MOQ means that, I've been barking up the wrong tree for a
> long time.
>
> Platt
>
>
>
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