Hi Gary,
Thanks for this, although it's not the basic map/territory distinction that
I have a problem with. I need to look again at Lila to see exactly what
Pirsig says, but going from what you quote it seems to support my unease.
Breaking it down, we've got three things at issue, the food, the menu, and
metaphysics. Let's assume that the food is the inorganic/organic component,
the menu represents those components mediated through the social level (so
when I see a 1988 Chateau Lafite on the wine list it means something more to
me than seeing orange juice). My point is that the metaphysics has no
necessary link with the lower levels, it is purely an intellectual level
product - and therefore the territory IS the map, the map IS the territory,
and also, as Pirsig implies, you can't live on it, because there is no
food.
Again, I suspect I'm missing something really obvious, but I need a bit of
help from someone to point it out.
Sam
"If what we do now makes no difference in the end then all the seriousness
of life is done away with" - Wittgenstein
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Jaron" <gershomdreamer@yahoo.com>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 2:04 AM
Subject: Re: MD Stuck with Map/Territory?
> Hi Sam,
> Try this analogy to use with the map/territory
> analogy, it is noted by Pirsig in chap 5 of Lila, it
> is the restaurant analogy. [Platt gets the prize for
> sending us all a post that reminded us all about this
> great analogy.]
> "Metaphysics is a restaurant where they hand you a
> 30,000 page menu and no food." [Roughly what Pirsig
> said.]
>
> Hence:
> The idea is that food=Quality=Territory
> menu=maps[a model, a theory, a hypothesis, a concept,
> etc. something made by humans to try and understand
> &/or describe reality.]
>
> We experience the territory/food. We try to
> understand the territory by making maps/menus.
> all human products from the q-Intellectual level are
> maps/menus.
> The Quality event is the eating/encountering the food.
>
> Hope that helps,
> gary
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