RE: MD Pirsig's understanding of the intellect

From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sat Nov 30 2002 - 23:30:33 GMT

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    Sam and y'all:

    Sam said:
    Having gathered all these together, I have some tentative conclusions, which
    it would be good to discuss further.

    DMB says:
    I appreciate your efforts here and am increasingly anxious to get a copy of
    Lila's Child. (I was especially gratified to see what Pirsig said about Bo's
    SOLAQI. However, at present Lila is all I have to go on. Until the book is
    available, I would ask you and everyone else to provide some context for
    these LC quotes. The answers are bound to confound if we don't also know
    what the question was. Anything less seems unfair and maybe even deceptive.

    Sam said:
    Firstly, David's contention that the character Lila has no part of intellect
    is unsustainable. Or, more specifically, Pirsig wouldn't agree with him
    about it (if a gorilla can read... it's acting intellectually)

    DMB says:
    Oh great. Now gorillas are intellectual. Yikes. But more to the point, you
    seem to suggest that "my" contention is some bizzare invention that Pirsig
    would never agree with, but in fact it is based on what Pirsig wrote, that
    "intellectually she's nowhere". While this assertion may have to be balanced
    with the other things he wrote, it isn't cancelled out by them either. I
    mean, there's no denying that he said it. This statement is in everyone's
    copy of Lila, no? Its not a very complicated statement and I think its not
    unreasonable to take it as a straitforward description of her lack of
    intellect. Frankly, I think its pretty wierd to suggest that Pirsig wouldn't
    agree with his own statement.

    Sam said:
    ..... there does seem to be a contradiction along the lines that Rick has
    pointed out. Social patterns are 'subjective', they exist in the mind. Yet
    so are intellectual patterns. I think this is one of the problems with
    Pirsig's account.

    DMB says:
    I don't see why this should be a problem. I don't see any contradiction. Why
    can't they BOTH be in the mind? There are two levels on the objective side,
    so why not on the subjective side? It seems to me that this is as easy as
    two plus two and I find it a bit discouraging that such an elementary thing
    should cause confusion.

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