Hi Wim,
I am interested in your thoughts on Pirsig's
unification of pragmatism and radical empiricism. My
feeling is it is impossible to "unite" because MOST
PEOPLE are unawake, unaware. Thus, with pragmatism as
a separate system in opposition to Pirsig, "awake
people" have a choice to "use" people who are unawake,
which I label: black magick. By black magick, I don't
mean it is evil, just that as black magick there is a
specific goal in mind. Of course, there are good AND
bad people who use black magick, but black magick in
and of itself is not evil. White magick on the other
hand is more what I view Pirsig is talking about in
the unification of pragmatism and radical empiricism:
kill patterns and let life lead you. The unification
of pragmatism and radical empiricism is flawed in the
sense that there will ALWAYS be unawake people who
will be manipulated, and it is my opinion that a
certain "activism" on the part of "awake" good people
has to occur to fight off "awake" bad people. Pirsig
does not seem to address the problem of Evil in this
SENSE. It's naive to assume that everyone will follow
his program and we'll all be happy. So in short, I
think it is a mistake to unite pragmatism and radical
empiricism, we need them separate in order to make
room for "activism" in the name of the "good" to fend
off the evil. Certainly Bin Laden and Saddam would fit
in as moral people with hardly a glance from Pirsig.
In James's system with pragmatism in tact, IT IS CLEAR
that they are a threat, they are immoral, and they
need to be "actively" decommissioned. To me pragmatism
is an ACTIVISM, a POSITIVISM (in terms of POSIT - ING
things, asserting things), and is a necessary part
needed to remain distinct from any unification with
radical empiricism. Thanks for your thoughts on this
matter, as I like your "seek meaning" center of
understanding of MOQ.
angus
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