Rog, Wim, DMB, all
I reflected (!) on this "understanding" point. I want to make a decisive
step towards a possible agreement.
Sticking to -provided by Rog- Pirsig's:
"The cells Dynamically invented animals to preserve and improve their
situation. The animals Dynamically invented societies, and societies
Dynamically invented intellectual knowledge for the same reasons."
I -a bit sadly- drop any reference to individuality and state:
Knowledge is better than Ignorance
After all, it works. Knowing is a process, and is more than Understanding.
At least as I see it. There are things we know and we can't understand.
Understanding is a subset of knowledge. Indeed, also biology and culture
have their knowledge, but they reject "useless" knowledge. Intellectually
"to know" becomes good, be it useful or not.
Knowledge is a good common term that unifies the humanists (whose mot can
well be the Socratic "know yourself") and the rationalists. It fits also
with the definition of intellect provided by Jonathan: intellect is
philosophy (that means: love for knowledge). And the very first intellectual
idea could well have been:
"Why?"
Then, said that, the scientific objective intellect Pirsig depicts in
chapter 24 is SOMish intellect, the "defective" one. According to the last
chapters, I think that the best intellectual way to knowledge for a MOQer is
cultivating individuality. That's why human rights are so important in the
MOQ. Of course, there's nothing bad in pursuing the possibility of a shared
path to knowledge.
Summarizing:
Better is better
Something is better than nothing
Life is better than death
Together is better than alone
Knowledge is better than ignorance
or, in a shorter way:
Better
Better existing
Better living
Better sharing
Better knowing
More than this, I can't concede. Hope this can solve the intellectual
better. Still problems for the social? Let me know.
Ciao,
Marco
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