Jonathan and the other moralists
Lightening strikes: one tree survives, the other doesn’t. Thus the inorganic level affects the evolution of the biological level. The ice age wiped out all kinds of plants and fish. A meteorite crashed into the planet and the dinosaurs became extinct.
But still, many biological patterns have survived all this. And the ones that have, have done so because they have devised ways to rise above inorganic phenomena. I’m not a biologist but I did go to primary school and have drawn (quite beautifully I can assure you) many pictures of camels, with color-coded arrows pointing out how their eyelids block out the sand, their feet are splayed so they don’t sink, and the hump … well I think we all know what the hump is for.
And this brings us to one of Pirsig’s most brilliant ideas – his theory of evolution. “The idea that life is progressing towards something has been explored,” he says, “but has anyone taken up the idea that life is evolving away from something?”
What the MoQ adds to natural selection is that those patterns which are “selected” are the ones which free themselves from the chains of the inorganic level. When biological quality first evolved it was merely dynamic inorganic quality seeking new freedom. Biological quality still has a constant battle against inorganic quality and it doesn't always win. However the most dynamic freedom seeking biological patterns are the most successful at overcoming it and consequently have the best chance of evolving further.
“Survival of the fittest” IS the survival of the biological patterns that break free from the chains of inorganic level most successfully. MoQ morality says that freedom from static patterns is the highest morality. Thus, the MoQ says that natural selection is moral.
Diana
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