Hi Group,
I have a couple of questions that anyone can answer. I was wondering where you (the group)
thought that feelings or the passions are contained in the MoQ. I myself have
thought that they would be found in the Biological level of the MoQ. I would like to
explain why I have thought this. Well the feelings concern a living being so they are not
found in the inorganic. Secondly, they (passions) are not really dependent upon society
(even though society can trigger feelings). They are not intellectual because they are not
dependent upon reason to exist. Now that leaves only the Biological or Dynamic Quality which
is the source of all things. Dynamic Quality seems to get ruled out since a desk or an inorganic form
of life doesn't have feelings. So feelings cannot be the same as Dynamic Quality. Well that means
that they (passions) must be Biological. This seems to make sense since other feelings (like getting
punched) would be Biological in the sense of being perceived and felt by the biological senses..So I would consider passions or emotional feelings as belonging to the Biological realm as well.
Now for the real trouble..On page 344 in ZMM Pirsig says that happiness is not an objective term. But
in his MoQ the Biological and Inorganic levels are objective. However, I think that in this case he might
be using Happiness as a synonm for Dynamic Quality, and this would seem to clear the problems up.
Otherwise I see a contradiction since Happiness would have to be a feeling.
Anyway I thought that objective entities could be measured and defined. But how are you able to define feelings;
by observing them? And aren't the feelings given the position as being subjective in traditonal subject-object
metaphysics? If they are, that makes since because they would depend on each individual person.
However, than you could say that feelings don't exist because they are in your mind, and like Pirsig
said "If you want to be happy just change your mind. (pg 345)." I believe that in Pirsig's MoQ feelings are in the
Biological objective realm, which means that they do exist. But if they are objective they should be
able to be defined, and how do we define them?
Well I am sorry about rambling on, but the more I look into the matter, the more questions I get.
Any responses or ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Confused,
Jason Nelson
MOQ Homepage - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
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