From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Aug 13 2004 - 20:49:16 BST
Hi Chuck,
> The first portion, the "all MEN are created equal" part, Pirsig is refering
> to individuals.
Agree. But keep in mind he is specifically talking about social equality,
not biological or intellectual. And by social equality he meant equality
of social classes, or absence of hereditary classes such as found in
Europe. At least, that's how I read it.
> In the second, he is comparing cultures by which level
> they look to as a whole, or generally speaking - biological, social or
> intellectual - for moral guidelines.
Agree. But why cannot the same be applied to individuals?. For example,
there are individuals (terrorists come to mind) who look to the might-
makes-right morality of the biological level for guidance with (in the
case of Islamic terrorists) the reward of biologically copulating with 40
virgins.
> I think what appeals to Pirsig about all men being created equal is that
> each individual has freedom of choice as far as beliefs go; each individual
> is a blank slate at birth.
Does Pirsig adopt the blank slate concept? I can't find anyplace where he
suggests that. I'm pretty sure he doesn't dismiss the influence of
biological genes on individuals and their future choices of beliefs.
Further, Pirsig spells out several times that the culture has a profound
affect on the beliefs of individuals. For example, if you want to avoid
being cited as insane, you had better believe and behave according to your
culture's approved worldviews. In other words, free choice of beliefs is
limited at best.
> To me, The second quote supports the first. A
> culture may be judged by which individual or individuals said culture holds
> up as the ideal, as what that culture as whole thinks of as Quality at the
> moment.
What individuals would you say the American culture holds up as ideal?
> Sad commentary on the evangelistic, line-in-the-sand, war-machine the U.S.
> sees in the mirror these mornings. It gets me down.
Are you saying that individuals who support the current administration are
held up by American culture as ideal? If the current polls are accurate,
it looks like the country is equally divided between those who support the
"war-machine" (your words) and those who don't. Anyway, I think you'd get
plenty of disagreement from just about everybody on who in our culture
could be considered "ideal" individuals.
Best,
Platt
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