From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Tue Oct 15 2002 - 21:20:25 BST
Sriram, John and y'all:
>
John B said:
> You say "Pirsig's social status is being attacked by calling him insane
> and
> chasing demons of his past, in order to deny the truth of the intellectual
> ideas." Nonsense. Pirsig goes on at length about his insanity, and in the
> postscript to ZMM about Chris's death and its effect on him. This is not
> only in the public domain, but the issue of insanity occupies a large
> portion of both books. If Pirsig can talk about it, why can't I?
>
DMB says:
Right. One might get their feelings hurt by criticism, but that
doesn't make it an ad hominem attack. Its perfectly legitimate to criticize
the things people write, whether its a philosophical novel or a post in this
forum. That's all fair game. Futher, Pirsig makes a case that a person's
ideas and beliefs can hardly be seperated from their biography. I couldn't
find the quote, (a little help here, anyone?) but it seems he said something
very much like "history IS biography". He drives this point home in
discussing the dynamic contrarians, the hippies, the bohemians and the Zuni
Brujo. People who, he says, are often just working out their own problems
are sometimes also working out the problems of the culture. From page 359...
"But sometimes its a Dynamic, where your whole being senses that the
static situation is an enemy of life itself. That's what drives the really
creative people - the artists, composers, revolutionaries and the like - the
feeling that if they don't break out of this jailhouse somebody has built
around them, they're going to die. But they're not being contrary in a way
that is just decadent. They're too energetic and aggressive to be decadent.
They're fighting for some kind of dynamic freedom from the static patterns.
But the kind of Dynamic freedom is a kind of morality too. And its a highly
important part of the overall moral process."
Thanks,
DMB
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