From: Matt the Enraged Endorphin (mpkundert@students.wisc.edu)
Date: Fri Nov 15 2002 - 04:49:53 GMT
Dan:
Mr. Pirsig has said it and I too get the feeling that people in general
won't appreciate what he's saying in Lila nor will there be a general
appreciation of that work for another 50 or 100 years. If you mean changing
his MOQ to suit our own understanding, I really don't think he'd be all
that delighted.
Matt:
I wrote to somebody recently about Pirsig. He'd recently decided to start
philosophy in college because of reading Lila. I warned him about trying
to bring a Pirsigian agenda into the contemporary undergrad scene. During
that warning I said this:
"I've gone through many stages in my philosophical development and I've
picked up a few things. For one, Pirsig talks about how he's being ignored
by the philosophical establishment. This is something you will hear all
the time on moq.org. The reason, I've come to believe, is not why he says
it is. Pirsig and most moqers believe that Pirsig is too far ahead of his
time. Not so. A better placement of Pirsig would be in the 18th century.
That's why Pirsig is ignored. Because he read some really old philosophy,
stopped, said a few interesting things about it, and then created a
philosophical system that's antiquated before it even hit the paper.
"Now, that's a little harsher then maybe Pirsig deserves, but my advice is
to not take Pirsig at his word all the time. When he says in ZMM that he's
a bad scholar, believe him. When he says that Quality is revolutionary,
you might want to pause and do a little research. Don't get me wrong. I
got hooked into philosophy by Pirsig. I still greatly admire him. But I
admire him now for tapping into a general feeling that was flowing through
the US. A lot of the points he has are still valid. But (and you'll find
me saying this starting back in July in the "Confessions" thread, in case
you want to go archive digging) I think Pirsig is best viewed as a culture
critic, rather than as a metaphysician. I would recommend my posts (and
the replies they received) for a good contrast to the way Pirsig and some
on moq.org may want him to be viewed and the way I think he is best viewed."
Now, that is pretty harsh. My point is, contra Pirsig, I think his
philosophy is better understood as a throwback to the 18th C., rather than
as before its time. But I still think it has a lot of worth and impact for
us. That's why I predict that Pirsig will be remembered, but for his
criticisms and insights about culture, rather than for his systematic
philosophy.
Matt
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