From: Scott R (jse885@spinn.net)
Date: Fri Jan 10 2003 - 02:34:17 GMT
Matt, Platt,
(I've changed the subject, was : "Is Pirsig a liberal?")
One indication of the privileging of Dynamic Quality over static quality is
that the former is capitalized and the latter not. So, since I don't think
such privileging should occur, I will try to cease and desist.
My reason for avoiding putting DQ on a higher pedestal than SQ is that IMO,
there is no DQ and SQ, but reality is usefully described as requiring both
DQ and SQ concepts, which concepts are mutually dependent and mutually
contradictory. There are other binaries where this also holds, e.g.,
being/becoming, continuity/change, action/identity.
Going further, I would raise this observation to a metaphysical prime, by
saying that not only does this mutual dependence/contradiction describe
reality, it creates reality, and one can call this creative force Quality.
Also other things.
The cash value of this metaphysical position is that (a) it requires irony
(since one's logic is that of contradictory identity), and (b) it completes
the linguistic turn. The absolutes that post-moderns have overthrown by the
recognition that everything comes contextualized may be restored by focusing
on contextualizations, or language in general. There is no truth outside of
a language game because everything is a play/player in a language game (not
restricted to human players). "In the beginning was the Logos" turns out to
be a simple metaphysical fact.
- Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt the Enraged Endorphin" <mpkundert@students.wisc.edu>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 9:02 PM
Subject: Re: MD Pirsig a liberal?
> Platt,
>
> Agh, I forgot to reply to on this. You said:
> >Please explain what you mean by "privileged." Pirsig in the above quote
> >says dynamic and static are equally important. Privileged suggests not
> >equal, and has a pejorative ring to it.
>
> Your sniffer is right to pick it up, but as it happens I was trying to be
> descriptive. The perjorative of "privileged" comes from the postmoderns
> who don't think there can/should be a privileged context (Lyotard,
Derrida,
> de Man, other deconstructionists [Culler, Gasche, Norris]).
Deconstruction
> as a literary movement (which Derrida shouldn't really be included in)
> enjoys finding dualisms, figuring out which one is priveleged and going,
> "Yeah, look at that. How ar_bi_trary. Yeah. Got ya' now, sucka'" (or
> something like that). This isn't very interesting however. I mean, I
> thought it was widely recognized that Dynamic Quality is priveleged. I
> didn't think Pirsig said they were equal. He says both are _needed_, but
> he also says that DQ is the moral trump card over all static patterns.
> That's what I mean by privelege. If a half of the dichotomy trumps the
> other one.
>
> I think it is merely descriptive. A deconstructionist would come along
and
> try to "explode" the dichotomy somehow. Deconstructionists are
notoriously
> suspicious of binaries. Following Rorty, however, I wouldn't know how you
> could do without binaries. Its the reifying of them that's the problem.
I
> don't see a problem with the priveleging of DQ because A) I don't want to
> reify or hypostatize it metaphysically and B) I don't think we can tell
> what DQ is until much later afterwards. If that's the case, then its a
> compliment paid to good stuff that happens and we needn't never worry
about
> arbitrarily privileging a choice as "absolute" because we'll never know
> which choice is the "absolutely good one, now and forever" at the time of
> its choosing. That's why I don't take the absoluteness of DQ that
seriously.
>
> Matt
>
>
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