David wrote:
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This is one of the ways to see how the mind/body problem disappears; If
matter and mind are seen as different levels of the same static quality,
then the split between them is healed. The material world, our physical
bodies, our language and culture, and our ideas and philosophies are all
made of static patterns of values and they've all evolved in the same way,
by the same "mechanism" if you like. All these static patterns have
been left in the wake of direct experience. The phenomenal world is the
very structure of experience. The world is made of captured knowledge, so
to speak.
And . . .
You are correct in pointing out that the MOQ says there is only one thing,
but there is also a dualism. Pirsig has divided reality into two parts. One
is the world we can map and measure and define, also known as the four
levels of static patterns of Quality. I like to call it phenomenal reality.
(How closely the map matches the road is something we can never really
know, so we have to settle for what works. Hence we get Pirsig's
many-truths provisionality)
The other half of this dualism is the part we CAN NOT map, measure or
define. It is beyond words and concepts, it is an ineffable mystery, also
known as Dynamic Quality.
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I haven't had the time to participate in this list much yet, but David's
comments I couldn't resist. For those of you who read my intro a while
back I talked a little about my interest in Stoicism. I want to share with
you just a couple of the metaphysical concepts of the Stoa and let you draw
your own conclusions.
The first level concept in Stoic metaphysics is the unity the Dynamic
Continuum, or Nature. All particulars (ie, individual 'things' of
perception which aren't really individual) consist of only two components;
the Logos (mind), and substance (matter); or, that which orders and that
which is ordered.
A key point is that the separate concepts of Logos and substance are
considered the essential building blocks to formulate abstract concepts
(ie, articulate thought) to explain sense perception. These building
blocks 'subsist', they do not 'exist'. In actuality the Logos and
substance are inseparable. Logos + substance = SPoV.
A dualism is required to start the whole chain of SO cause and effect
reasoning, but it is just a tool for explanation. It does not define DQ,
oops, I mean the Dynamic Continuum.
Folks, humans have wrestled with these issues for a long time. I don't
mean to take away from Pirsig's accomplishment. On the contrary, the more
I understand about these old traditional metaphysical systems the more I
see Pirsig, and the more Pirsig's ideas help me understand them.
Steve
The Stoic Credo: 'Live in Accordance with Nature'
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