Platt, DMB,Glenn,All
When Platt says concerning P & W take on S & O....
> we are to
> conclude that Pirsig and Wilber are two peas in pod. Well, close but no
> cigar. (On second thought, not even close.)
I agree...
> No, he's [Wilbur] a Subject/Object man through and through, dividing the world
> into four quadrants after an initial split of interior vs. exterior (subjective
> vs. objective).
But Wilbur is not a classic S/O man of the type Pirsig rails against. In
traditional subject/object duality, rooted in Greek thought, popularized
by Descartes, and carrying forward to the present day, the "subject" has
alway been exclusively reserved for human "mind", "consciousness." and
the like. Indeed Pirsig's SODV paper echos this traditional split.
Wilbur on the other hand does not cling to or proposes this traditional
Western view.
While his "Chart of the Four Quadrants" is split into interior and
exterior, in his numerous discussions of it he is very clear that one
will never find a pattern of values in one quadrant without finding a
corresponding pattern in each of the other quadrants. So if you wish to
portray him in subjective vs objective terms you would have to say that
he extends "subjective" or internal values to all of reality from
quarks to humans. IMHO this is why he uses "internal" and "external"
because to suggest quarks are "subjective", ie are "conscious" or have a
"mind", would be to invite even louder hoots of derision from almost
every quarter, particularly science. However many Eastern traditions and
in particular Buddhism has espoused this belief since the beginning.
It's a surefire solution to the question:
"How does Mind arise from No Mind ? Or Spirit, from No Spirit?"
3WD
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