From: ml (mbtlehn@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Wed Sep 01 2004 - 23:58:16 BST
Hello Ham,
Prdon my intrusion...
from your message:
> You continue:
> > Pirsig mentions the idea of an amoeba responding to heat with simply an
> > awareness of "low quality". Since the amoeba has no semiotic system (no
> > "language"), can that amoeba ever know the concept of "heat". Man, with
a
> > semiotic system at his disposal, would respond immediately to "low
> quality",
> > but then would be able to represent symbolically this event with the
word
> > "heat". Thus, man can represent reality, but only with a semiotic
system.
>
> This is assinine. The amoeba feels heat just as man does. Excess heat
> causes pain, not a "concept of low quality".
> It is the pain, not a concept, that makes the amoeba react. This has
> nothing to do with the amoeba's inability to
> state his condition as a philosophical hypothesis. Feelings take
precedence
> over intellection, which is how both species have managed to survive!
>
I would suggest that if you think about it sensation-wise, physically, the
reaction
to heat on 'your' part preceedes your identification of pain from the heat.
The flush
and rush of pain sensation and the realization of it as PAIN follow your
retraction
from the source of your discomfort. The "concept of low quality" seems a
descriptor aimed at getting into this precognitive space, this reaction
before
cognition and identification.
As you say, feelings take precedence over intellection, but how do YOU
describe
the reaction before cognition and identification?
thanks--mel
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