Erin, John, Rod,
Pirsig's quote:
Our scientific description of nature is always culturally
derived. Nature tells us only what our culture predisposes
us to hear. The *selection* of which inorganic patterns to
observe and which to ignore is made on the basis of social
patterns of value, or when it is not, on the basis of
biological patterns of value.' (p 343, paperback)
I was torn about how to interpret the word "observe".
Does by "observe" he mean "study" or does he mean it
literally, as if we are as good as blind without the social
patterns lighting the way. That is, are our senses operable
in a biological sense, but effectively rendered inoperable
if our culture does not accept the inorganic pattern? The
second sentence in the quote makes it sound like it should
be taken this way.
Also, support for this interpretation comes from his
experience with the karmakaya (sp?) light. Until he was
told about it, which I guess is a kind of social initiation,
he hadn't seen it. Afterward, he started to. He'd effectively
been visually blinded to this kind of light because his
culture did not accept it, according to this view. Can
the same be said for ghosts, UFOs, psi effects, Sasquatch, etc.
I think Pirsig would be open to this idea.
Also, a little tangential to this but still relevant, is his experience
with what he calls the Cleveland Harbour effect. He was sailing along,
thinking he was outside Cleveland, trying to find a place to dock,
finding inconsistencies between the map and terrain but ignoring or
making excuses for them because he was so convinced he was outside
Cleveland. The next day he found out he *was* in Cleveland. The idea
is similar to having social tunnel vision, and Pirsig seems convinced
that this effect has widespread application, to the point where
no inorganic pattern is accessible to us except those that are
culturally mediated. In effect, the natural world becomes socially
constructed. That's if "observe" is taken literally.
As John mentioned, humans aren't the only ones who squint at the sun,
so it seems this view can't be taken too seriously, unless you think
animals are similarly socially acclimated.
Glenn
--__________________________________________________________________ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/
Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/ MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at: http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:01:53 BST