From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Mar 26 2005 - 16:14:02 GMT
All:
Was looking for something else in Pirsig's notes to Lila's Child and come
across this prescient passage:
"I think the MOQ would say that society has a moral right to control
biology. The danger is in that in controlling biology society creates
customs that injure society itself. Clearly the cost of caring for
biologically defective people is a burden on society, but the question is,
if society sanctions the murder of a defective fetus, what other kinds of
murder is it going to sanction? Think of the money that could be saved by
executing all criminals, all mentally ill people, all people with and IQ
below 100, all old people, all people with poor DNA patterns, all people
who can do 40 pushups, and so on. The question is -- where do you cut it
off? I personally am pro-choice, but I understand the moral integrity of
those who are not. It is a matter for society through its mechanisms of
politics to decide and keep deciding as it evolves toward a better world."
It appears Pirsig would approve of Congress getting involved in the
Schiavo case despite the argument of some that the decision to remove her
feeding tube ought to be restricted to the law as interpreted by the
courts. In any case, Pirsig cautions against using the MOQ as the basis
for arriving at cut and dried answers to the moral questions involved in
this case, not that anyone has proposed such to date.
Platt
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