Greetings,
Jonathan was kind enough to send me a copy of the post he submitted to the other forum last month in
which he wrote:
> Some of Pirsig's detractors (e.g Strawson, our own Struan) would say
that
> Pirsig's SOM is a strawman, since SO thought was never really a
metaphysics
> anyway.
>
> This is more a semantic than a substantive disagreement.
Whilst he is right that one of my objections to SOM is that the M is misplaced - of that I am as
certain as I am about anything - I don't see why Jonathan attempts to dispose of the argument as
semantic and not substantive. I always considered semantics to be highly substantive. In fact the
word 'substantive' itself is a very interesting choice in this context don't you think? Perhaps I
could invite Jonathan to clarify just what the objection is.
JONATHAN:
"If Pirsig's MoQ is really good, it should help us to understand what makes GOOD ideas good and BAD
ideas bad."
Now that I like, best point I've seen for a while and it would make an excellent question. I would
(and have) cut it down and asked simply, 'What makes good, good and bad, bad.' In fact that question
is the main reason I am here, although I despair of finding the answer. However, if the above
invitation appeals to more people then that must be good.
JONATHAN:
"So what does MoQ really say about SO thought (as I understand it)? SO is GOOD for fixing
motorcycles, healing the sick, building roads and dams etc. etc. SO is BAD or even dangerous when it
is pursued without regard to non-SO concepts like intuition, emotion and ethics."
Agreed. But does anyone actually fix motorcycles without emotion, or heal the sick without ethics,
or design and build a damn without intuition? Of course not! This is a message that is, on the
surface, quite profound, but deep down it is very superficial.
Not, I hope you will agree, merely a semantic point, by any definition of which I am aware. :-)
Struan
------------------------------------------
Struan Hellier
< mailto:struan@clara.co.uk>
"All our best activities involve desires which are disciplined and
purified in the process."
(Iris Murdoch)
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