From: Adam Watt (adamwatt@mac.com)
Date: Sat Aug 07 2004 - 03:07:49 BST
Hello Ham Priday ( a play on Man Friday?).. welcome to the list. I
actually remember reading a post or two of yours on another forum not
long ago, though I must confess I've yet to read much of your
essentialism thesis so far. That's not to say I'm opposed to the idea,
just that I haven't felt inspired to prioritize such an undertaking so
far. There are a couple of things I'd be interested to know..
Firstly, you mentioned you contacted Pirisig asking for additional
clarification - may I ask what exactly you asked, and what the response
was you received? I'm intrigued to know. Continuing in the same vein,
one comment of Pirsigs you did mention was his observation of the
'remarkable similarity' between your own thesis and the MOQ. It would
be interesting, provided you agree with the former statement (I'm
presuming you do..), to hear what you think these similarities are? Or
perhaps in the interest of brevity, what you consider the differences
to be?
Thank you, I look forward to your reply.
Adam
On Friday, August 6, 2004, at 11:19 pm, hampday@earthlink.net wrote:
> Gentlemen--
>
> I have just joined your mailing list, so please forgive me if this is
> not the proper procedure for proposing a new topic.
>
> By way of introduction, I have developed a valuistic philosophy
> independently of Robert Pirsig but based on an ontological thesis that
> is quite similar to the MOQ. It is my contention that while the
> novel, particularly one as well written as Lila, can illustrate
> various sociological aspects of a philosophy and gain popular appeal,
> it will necessarily leave many of the fundamental points unclarified
> and open to speculation. This, I think, is what has happened in the
> case of our peripatetic author, and why there is so much debate in
> this (and other) forums as to what Pirsig "means" by the terms Quality
> (DQ vs. SQ), Perception, Existence, Creation, etc.
>
> Those of you who have reviewed the author's Subjects, Objects, Data
> and Values, presented at the 1995 "Einstein Meets Magritte"
> conference, will appreciate the fact that a even a brief metaphysical
> exposition can provide far more insight than a 500-page
> autobiographical novel. I came across this paper two years ago while
> researching Value for my own website, and decided to include the
> author's incisive analysis of the Bohr/Heisenberg controversy in my
> thesis. After reading Lila, I contacted Professor Pirsig by forwarded
> letter, hoping to obtain additional clarification of his Quality
> concept. He returned a short note, pointing out the "remarkable
> similarity" of my Value thesis, and suggesting that I "might get some
> interesting comments from the contributors to www.moq.org in the
> Discuss section". Hence, my request to be added to this
> prestigious list.
>
> If my proposed subject is "out of bounds" for this forum, I will
> withdraw it poste haste and continue to participate as one who is very
> interested in the MOQ. Otherwise, I welcome any questions concerning
> my own philosophy of Essence, the thesis for which may be found at
> www.essentialism.net.
>
> Thank you for considering this topic suggestion which, in addition to
> helping me clarify my own concepts, I believe has the potential to
> shed new light on the Metaphysics of Quality [Value].
>
> Essentially yours,
> Ham Priday
> hampday@earthlink.net
>
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