RE: MD The individual in the MOQ

From: Paul Turner (paul@turnerbc.co.uk)
Date: Tue Aug 31 2004 - 16:13:13 BST

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    Ham

    Ham said:
    Man -- you and I individually, not as a group species -- is the primary
    "dynamic agent" in the realization of Value through the exercise of
    personal freedom.

    Paul:
    In the last post I picked up on the "personal freedom" aspect of this
    but I think there is an important statement here which I didn't answer.
    Such is the problem of discussing metaphysics!

    The difference between what you are saying and the MOQ is really quite
    subtle. You seem to be making an assumption that an individual "agent"
    exists that makes these value judgements and is therefore logically not
    the value judgements themselves.

    The MOQ is saying that value assertions create the individual in that
    they *are* the individual. So it isn't saying that individuals don't
    exist and that there is just this big collective mass of static
    patterns, which is the conclusion you are drawing.

    To me, I think this argument parallels the Brahmanic-Buddhist quarrel
    over the existence of atman. The Buddhist point of view, which the MOQ
    adopts, is that nothing has independent self-existence. The Buddhist
    description of an individual is a collection of processes or skandhas
    (feeling, perception, thinking). Translated into the MOQ, this overall
    process is evaluation, and this process creates patterns which occur
    together and that these patterns may be understood as individuals. If
    this process stops, so does the individual.

    Regards

    Paul

    P.S. For a couple of reasons, I'm taking a break from these discussions
    for a while. One of the reasons, that you may be interested in given
    your opening comments to this forum, is that I've been working on a kind
    of "exposition" of the MOQ (mainly for my own use), and I need a little
    time to complete it. I'll be unsubscribing to keep my mailbox from
    exploding but if you want to follow up with anything you can.

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