From: Elizaphanian (Elizaphanian@members.v21.co.uk)
Date: Thu Oct 31 2002 - 15:55:41 GMT
Hi there,
Me again.
I would like to set out how I understand the 'standard account' of the MoQ,
and invite comments on it, before I then go on to a (last?) articulation of
my concerns. Any and all comments welcome.
~~~~~
The Metaphysics of Quality (MoQ) is an intellectual ordering of experience;
it is a way of organising our knowledge; it is a filing system for the
contents of our mind.
It postulates that the fundamental reality is Quality or value. All things
come from Quality, and it is Quality that draws all things into being from
Quality. All that exists is a form of Quality, and nothing exists without
Quality.
The first distinction that is made in understanding Quality is a distinction
between Dynamic Quality (DQ) and Static Quality (SQ). DQ cannot be named and
cannot be described. It is the cutting edge of experience. It is
pre-intellectual awareness. DQ does not fit into any intellectual system; it
is the ragged edge at the border of all such systems. DQ is the driving
force of evolution, the lure which all of existence pursues.
Sometimes, a DQ driven evolution constitutes an evolutionary leap. Something
new comes into existence. For this new thing of value to be maintained in
existence it must 'static latch'; that is, it must be able to generate a
particular pattern of value which persists over time, either on a continuous
basis or a continuously regenerated basis.
These static latches form the known world. They are the stable forms of
Quality.
Static Quality can be named. It can be classified and analysed. The
principal classification of SQ is a division into four levels. These levels
are discrete and do not overlap. Moreover, all that we presently know can be
classified and described according to these four levels, except for DQ
itself, which, to repeat, remains outside of all realms of classification.
The four levels are: inorganic, organic, social and intellectual. (For the
sake of simplicity the inorganic can be taken to include the quantum level,
although perhaps this level could constitute its own 'zeroth' level).
The inorganic level refers to atomic and molecular behaviour. Any object can
be viewed as existing at the inorganic level. For example, a rock is a
pattern of inorganic value - it's constituents parts value their current
relationships more than any other alternative (eg disintegration). In the
original flux, before there was either matter or time, Quality was found to
lie in a certain structuring of quantum forces. [Here an astro-physicist can
fill in the gaps].
The inorganic level is shaped by the laws of physics. These laws are simply
a codification of the value choices made by atoms and molecules.
The organic (or biological) began to develop when a particular molecule made
a DQ leap into a different pattern of behaviour. 'Biological evolution can
be seen as a process by which weak Dynamic forces at a subatomic level
discover stratagems for overcoming huge static inorganic forces at a
superatomic level.' The highest quality static latch at the organic level
was the molecule DNA. In practical terms this level can be considered as
anything which can be described with reference to DNA.
The organic level is shaped by the law of natural selection. This law is a
codification of the value choices made by organic patterns of value.
Uniquely (so far as we know), the human species is able to experience two
further degrees of static quality.
The social level is the 'subjective customs of groups of people'. This sense
of 'social' does not apply to anything non-human. The DQ innovation and
static latch which enabled the social level to come into being was the
development of language. It is possible that this static latch was
supplemented by the further DQ innovation and static latch of ritual, but
that is a moot point.
The social level encompasses an enormous variety of human behaviour. It can
be understood through the values which govern it. The social level is shaped
by moral laws (eg against murder, adultery, theft) which are enforced by
policemen and priests. These laws are what preserve the existence of social
patterns of value from a degradation into the biological patterns of value
on which the society depends. The social level is also ordered through the
celebrity principle, which articulates the governing social values.
Celebrities are those people who exemplify the values of the society, and
who gain social rewards (principally wealth, power and fame) as a result.
Social laws are a codification of the value choices made by societies.
The intellectual level is the level of symbolic social learning, the same as
mind. It is the collection and manipulation of symbols, created in the
brain, that stand for patterns of experience. The DQ innovation and static
latch which enabled the intellectual level to come into being has not been
satisfactorily determined.
The intellectual level is shaped by the notion of 'truth', which stands
independently of social opinion. There is no link between celebrity and
truth. The guardians of the intellectual level are, variously, the members
of the Church of Reason. Intellectual 'laws' (eg logic) are a codification
of the value choices made by intellectuals.
A culture is a combination of social and intellectual patterns of value. The
twentieth century can be seen as a struggle between social patterns of value
with differing degrees of intellectual control. For the first time there are
now societies where intellectual patterns of value are able to flourish. The
big political question is whether the social patterns which sustain that
flourishing can also maintain themselves against the biological patterns
which threaten to devour them. That will probably be the struggle of the
twenty first century.
~~~~~~
Sam
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