From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Thu Mar 17 2005 - 21:39:19 GMT
Hi Ham,
> Platt had this comment:
> > It reiterates and justifies Rand's axiom "existence exists," but begs the
> > question of "how" or "why" existence came to be. The MOQ proposes an
> > answer.
> Yes, you are correct, Platt; neither the essay nor Rand's books offer a
> metaphysical ontology for existence. Can you direct me to specific
> passages in the Pirsig literature that explain "how or why existence came
> to be"? I've examined ZMM, LILA, SODV, and Anthony's thesis, but have yet
> to find an answer that is not buried in patterns & levels (i.e., SOM)
> terminology.
For Pirsig, what creates existence and consciousness is Quality.
He claims that Quality, which he divides into Dynamic and static, is the
source of "all things," as expressed in the following passage from Chp.9
of Lila:
"Dynamic Quality is the pre-intellectual cutting edge of realty, the
source of all things, completely simple and always new. Although Dynamic
Quality, the Quality of freedom, creates this world in which we live,
these patterns of static quality, the quality of order, preserve our
world. Neither static nor Dynamic Quality can survive without the other."
One of the reasons I agree with Pirsig about the primacy of Quality is
because the universe must have valued order over chaos to exist, evolve,
and create organisms like us who enjoy speculating about such things as
existence, consciousness, and values.
Pirsig's beginning axiom is not that existence exists, but that "Some
things are better than others." He makes this clear in the Copleston
Notes:
"Ferrier's first move is to look for the absolute starting point of
metaphysics in a proposition which states the one invariable and essential
feature in all knowledge, and which cannot be denied without
contradiction. For the MOQ this is, "Some things are better than others."
I would guess Rand thought her philosophy better than others. :-)
Hope this helps.
Best,
Platt
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