>===== Original Message From moq_discuss@moq.org =====
Hello Glenn,
Okay I understand why you are saying that Pirsig means "observe" literally.
But I don't think he takes it as far as you think. I think it is related to a
previous discussion that Rick and I were having (earlier this month in the
History thread) that Whorf claimed language determined perception and in
reality language only influences perception.
I think you are trying to put Pirsig in the same boat as Whorf in going to far
in saying that culture determines reality not just influences reality. But I
would say that Pirsig DOES NOT go to that extreme. Again I would argue that
it is a filter that may distort it but the filter doesn't completely determine
what you are see. You mentioned where he talks about the Cleveland Harbor
effect--- to me he is saying right there he understands how his own false
beliefs can "trick" his perception and on page 387 he gives a biological
explanation of that dharmakaya light.
Let me use an example that is given in some perception classes. There will be
a picture of these random splotches and when you ask somebody what it is they
say they have no idea. If you tell them that it a picture of a dalmation then
they all of a sudden see it (it was hard to see at first because the spaces in
between the splotches is what looked like a dalmation) but people have to be
told it is there before they see it. I think there is a bias to look at
occurrences (splotches) rather then the nonoccurrences (space in between the
splotches). So if we have this "bias" you can see due to the cleveland Harbor
effect that our knowledge system is filtered right? This is also known as the
confirmation bias. If we have a belief of something we tend to notice the
occurrences of it and IGNORE THE nonoccurrences of it. So accept the postive
evidence and ignore the negative evidence. I think Pirsig tries to avoid any
biases, don't you? I think it is good you are skeptical of the MOQ but I would
like to argue that if you take it too far you will fall victim to this
confirmation bias yourself and find a whole bunch of evidence discrediting the
MoQ while ignoring all the evidence supporting MoQ. I think Pirsig attempts
to reduce bias while knowing that his map is influencing how he perceives
reality.
Erin
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