ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTEXT
Hi gang,
I believe that my post of 29th November must be my most successful ever. I
base that on the tremendous amount of useful discussion that followed, none
of it from me I might add.
DAVID LIND was early off the mark
> Here's a question...What if administering the drugs decreases the
> quality of the persons life even though they extend the length of that
> life? ...
That's a very pertinent objection. My view is that any supposedly moral
proposition can be cast in a context that makes it seem immoral.
ROGER came up with his six questions, and the "contexts" question
immediately came up. I think this goes down to the "many truths" idea. Many
truths to me does *not* mean that anything goes, but that the truth of any
statement is dependent on the context. The answers to Roger's questions make
it clear that the *morality* of any particular viewpoint is also dependent
on the context.
The separation of truth and context is at the basis of SOM, where truth is
objective and context is subjective.
The utility of SOM comes in insisting that when we argue about *truth* we do
so in a common context, though the way that context is set is unclear. I
would say that it is set by precedent and represents the mythos. Every now
and again, someone comes along and succeeds in changing the context -
causing a paradigm shift. I suppose that this is exactly what Pirsig's brujo
did. This is what Pirsig himself tries to do.
ROGER wrote:
>The MOQ approach is to continuously redefine and undefine the
>problem. Approach it from a thousands directions and apply a
>thousand and one solutions. Test these, retest. Redefine the
>problem. Keep what works, throw out what doesn't. Every once in a
>while try out what already proved unsuccessful and see if the
>problem has now given you new opportunities to try new twists on
>the old. And tomorrow, as you wake, intuit whether value has been
>maximized. You will find it hasn't, so it is time to start anew.
Right on Roger! Pirsig comes to remind us that we should always be
questioning both truth and context. To treat separate truth and context is
necessary surgery, but the dissection is only the first half of the job. SOM
tends to forget about evaluating the patient AS A WHOLE one the operation is
complete.
DAVID THOMAS introduced an interesting new angle with
"AN ATTEMPT TO STAND THE MORAL COMPASS ON IT'S HEAD".
This was a very apt presentation of the "bottom up" view of morality
proposed by WALTER many months ago.
I think that this view says that the "NATURE" of the lower levels is to
behave in certain ways, and it is immoral for the higher levels to deny that
behaviour. Thus, we cannot end the AIDS epidemic by passing a law
*forbidding* unprotected sex, we cannot end obesity by *legislating* a
maximum calorie intake. What we can do is harness the "positive" forces to
restrain the destructive ones, with the higher level *judging* which is
which. Peoples' instinctive desire for health and survival can be harnessed
to overcome their destructive impulses, the natural growth of plants and
animals can be harvested to provide food and clothing etc.
The authoritarian version of socialism, as practised in the USSR proved
untenable because it denied certain basic human instincts by direct
confrontation - and it the USSR that lost. The supposed "success" of the
capitalist system
is because it harnesses man's natural instinct to gather and collect useful
things for his benefit. The "Money" discussion illustrates this quite well.
Money has come to be a highly successful ubiquitous symbol for utility/value
that facilitates the harnessing of certain human instincts. However, the
relationship between money as a symbol and the value it represents is a
contextual relationship. When the context is lost, so is morality and we are
left with a version of capitalism that serves only itself.
I have many more thoughts, but have an aversion to lengthy posts.
Let me end by saying a big THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to this
wonderful discussion.
Jonathan
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