Hi Roger and LS:
Roger wrote:
> So, effective for the rest of this month, I would like to offer the coveted
> "Able to Educate the Thick Headed" award to anyone who can get me to
> understand and agree with your definition of DQ and how it explains PURPOSE in
> the universe.(Offer not valid in Ohio or Puerto Rico).
When I read Chapter 11 of LILA I get the distinct impression that DQ and
purpose of inexorably linked. To cite just a couple of examples, Pirsig
writes:
"Natural selection is Dynamic Quality at work." (Note that DQ "works,"
that is, DQ is energy.)
"The explanation of life as 'migration of static patterns towards Dynamic
Quality' not only fitted the known facts of evolution, it allowed new ways of
interpreting them."
But the clincher comes at the end of Chapter 11 when Pirsig directly
associates DQ with purpose in no uncertain terms:
"He (the chemistry professor) is not some static, molecular, objective,
biological machine doing all this for no purpose whatsoever. We see that
he's conducting his experiments for exactly the same purpose as the
subatomic forces had when they first began to create him billions of
years ago. He's looking for information that will expand the static patterns
of evolution itself and give both greater versatility and greater stability
against hostile static forces of nature. He may have personal motives
such as 'pure fun,' that is, the Dynamic Quality of his work. But when he
applies for funds he will normally and properly tie his request to some
branch of humanity's overall evolutionary purpose."
Do I get the coveted award? I live in South Carolina. :-)
Platt
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