>===== Original Message From moq_discuss@moq.org =====
Hello,
I too thought it was very odd to be picking out sentences of a work of FICTION
to set up as absolute truths. So if I write a story that contained sentences
like "Platt is a secret postmodernist." or "The cold deck on the
Purple-people-eaters' feet really woke them up". I can conclude they are
absolutely true?
Erin
>As for Platt's specific examples....
>
>PLATT
>Want more Pirsig absolute truths? Here is just a sampling:
>
>"Cars rolling over a bridge in the distance sounded clearly through the cold
>night air."
>
>"The cold deck on his bare feet really woke him up."
>
>"After Phaedrus left Boseman he saw Dusenberry just twice."
>
>"Dusenberry was born in Bozeman and had graduated from college there."
>
The quote tells us that "After Phaedrus left Bozeman he saw Dusenberry
>just twice." Platt tells us this should be read as ABSOLUTE TRUTH! Yet,
>Platt himself couldn't vouch for even the mere historical accuracy of the
>quote. Thus as Andrea points out, "...in Platt's line of reasoning you
>could easily conclude that *all* truths are absolute: that is, that every
>sentence is either false or an absolute truth." This is why even when
>confronted with a proposition he doesn't know to be true, like the quote
>about Dusenberry, Platt must claim it's an absolute truth... either that, or
>he must call Pirsig a liar.
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