From: Elizaphanian (Elizaphanian@members.v21.co.uk)
Date: Wed Oct 30 2002 - 22:17:48 GMT
Hi David,
On the question of 'very specific terms of art'....
You say:
> Why would you insist on the dictionary here? Pirsig spends a great deal of
> time explaining the nature, evolution and history of the intellectual
level
> and so it MOST CERTAINLY IS "a very specific term of art within the MOQ".
> Within the MOQ both "social" and "intellectual" define levels of existence
> that were basically unrecognized by SOM, flatland, scientific materialism,
> the dominant paradigm or whatever you call the world view that produced
that
> dictionary. Sure, dictionary definitions are related and he chose those
> words for that reason, but in Lila he spells out enlarged concepts in both
> cases.
Whereas Pirsig says:
"We must all use terms as they are described in the dictionary or we lose
the ability to communicate with each other." (note 24)
and
"In Lila, I never defined the intellectual level of the MOQ, since everyone
who is up to reading Lila already knows what "intellectual" means. For
purposes of MOQ precision, let's say that the intellectual level is the same
as mind. It is the collection and manipulation of symbols, created in the
brain, that stand for patterns of experience." (note 25)
and
"For precision in the MOQ it's better to limit intelligence to symbol
manipulation, as defined earlier. I think that a lot of perceived fuzziness
of these levels can come from expanding terms beyond their ordinary
dictionary meanings when there is no need to do so." (note 40)
and
"It is only Dynamic Quality I think is impossible to define. I think
definition is both possible and desirable for the static levels. I just
didn't do it because these levels seemed so obvious." (note 44)
On the face of it, I think these count as support for my position.
(I was chasing down Erin's pointer (thanks again Erin!) to passages in
Lila's Child)
Sam
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