From: Chris Vlaar (c.c.vlaar@gmail.com)
Date: Fri Feb 25 2005 - 00:40:08 GMT
marsha,
the perfect answer to all what nihilism is not: Platt.
Chris
On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 17:06:50 -0500, Platt Holden <pholden@sc.rr.com> wrote:
> Hi Marsha, All:
>
> Marsha writes:
> > But in the end, it will be
> > my gut, not words that will determine the next step.
>
> And:
> > Deep in my bones I know there is no answer, there never was a answer and
> > there never will be an answer.
>
> It appears that you rely on your gut and your bones to tell you what's
> true and what's right. In other words, your feelings guide your beliefs.
>
> Pirsig makes it clear that feelings reside in and emerge from the
> biological level, not the social or intellectual levels. "In the MOQ
> feeling corresponds to biological quality." (Copleston notation).
>
> In Lila, Pirsig says feelings perceive quality. "There was a something
> wrong, something wrong, something wrong feeling like a buzzer in the back
> of his mind. It wasn't just his imagination. It was real. It was a primary
> perception of negative quality." (Lila, 20)
>
> In his SODV paper, Pirsig talks about our "sense of value, of liking and
> disliking" as a "primary sense." This sense seems to be a gut feeling more
> than anything else.
>
> Further, if one agrees with Pirsig's determination of truth as being a
> matter of personal taste, like choosing paintings in an art gallery, then
> one's feelings rule.
>
> Contrast this with statement in Chap. 8 of Lila: "The tests of truth are
> logical consistency, agreement with experience, and economy of
> explanation." No mention of feelings here.
>
> And, at the root of the MOQ he proposes a system of rational moral
> guidelines, as opposed to a morality based on feelings: "But what's not so
> obvious is that, given a value-centered Metaphysics of Quality, it is
> absolutely, scientifically moral for a doctor to prefer the patient. This
> is not just an arbitrary social convention that should apply to some
> doctors but not to all doctors, or to some cultures but not all cultures.
> It's true for all people at all times, now and forever, a moral pattern of
> reality as real as H20. We're at last dealing with morals on the basis of
> reason." (Lila, 13)
>
> So what is it to be? Truth and morality based on experience and reason,
> i.e., what is commonly thought of as comprising the intellectual level, or
> truth and morality founded on personal feelings of liking and not liking
> that bubble up from the biological level? Or, is some combination
> workable?
>
> I look to the group for answers. The nihilistic answer, that existence is
> senseless and useless, doesn't "feel right" to me.
>
> Best,
> Platt
>
>
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