From: John Maher (jozabad2001@yahoo.co.uk)
Date: Sun Jan 05 2003 - 15:46:33 GMT
Hi Horse,
Of course I will unsubscribe as you request, but, for
your own good, I ask you to consider these points as I
go.
1) Your belligerent, bullying manner is not only
offensive, but it also stops you from being an
effective moderator of this forum in that it places
ALL of the burden of proof on those who dissent, while
letting those who agree with your version of Pirsig
get away with anything they like.
2) It is ironic that you require of your contributors
(ONLY when they disagree with you) a much higher level
of scholarship than Pirsig was prepared to forward.
Read Lila and see how often Pirsig fails to provide
quotes to back up his reading of others. (I DO NOT
CRITICISE PIRSIG FOR THIS).
3) As someone who (I would hope) has some expertise in
philosophy, you will be aware that pithy quotes, while
they do have their place, are not the be all and end
all of evidence. Glenn, and now Matt, have taken (in
some ways) a more sophisticated approach, which seems
to have passed you by. The simplistic notion that if
you throw in a Pirsig quote you are 'de dicto' correct
and honest, but if you don't you are wrong and evil,
does not help very much.
4) You write that, 'It is not normal practice to
attempt to disprove spurious and/or malicious claims.
They are treated with the contempt they deserve.' I
would suggest that this is the heart of your problem.
You have your fundamentalist view of the MOQ and
anything that falls outside of it is, in your eyes,
spurious and therefore deserves contempt. I understand
Pirsig's claim that 'Phaedrus' means 'wolf' was
spurious. Does this mean that he deserves the same
sort of contempt you value and which you show to
dissenters?
5) My contribution to the debate about Pirsig
belittling science is that bad scientists (or poorly
informed non-scientists), simply by indulging bad
science, belittle science. Pirsig claims that the MOQ
is scientific and, in doing so, belittles science,
because that claim is false (spurious, therefore
deserving of contempt by your values and unworthy of
being disproved!).
Finally, it was Pirsig himself who promoted this site
in the foreword to ZAMM. It is, therefore, a huge
disappointment that it is run as it is. Why did you
set up a forum dedicated to a philosophy from which
you are so obviously disconnected?
I take my leave and apologise to others for my
contribution to the low value Horse creates.
John
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