Glove, Walter
About gravity
> Pirsig does say that gravity is a pattern of value in addressing a paradox
> that Anthony Mcwatt and Eric Priezkalns bring up in their paper The Role of
> Evolution, Time and Order in Pirsig's
> "Metaphysics of Quality".
>
> Anthony writes:
>
> >Anyway,
> >here's Pirsig:
> >
> >----------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >"The section in chapter 3 (in ZMM) about gravity points out
> >that the body of knowledge we call science is in fact
> >subjective. The law of gravity exists only in the minds of
> >modern-day people, who can change this law any time new
> >information shows that a higher quality law of gravity can
> >be constructed.
> >....both the "law of gravity" and "gravity" are
> >intellectual static patterns, but gravity (when you take
> >the quotation marks off) is said, in a very high quality
> >interpretation of experience, to be an external reality."
> (Correspondence from Pirsig to McWatt)
Or as Pirsig puts it on page 298 of Lila " Gravitation is an inorganic pattern
of values"
A key point to extract from this and the McWatt correspondence is an
indication that Pirsig while hedging his bet with "said..to be" still seem to
fall on the side of patterns of value external to the mind. (external
reality). Pragmatic realist, not idealist, Walter.
Dave Thomas
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