From: Ant McWatt (antmcwatt@hotmail.co.uk)
Date: Thu Apr 14 2005 - 11:38:49 BST
Pirsig stated mid-2004:
"My problem with 'essence' is not that it isn't there or that it is not the
same as Quality. It is that positivists usually deny 'essence' as something
like 'God' or 'the absolute' and dismiss it [as] experimentally
unverifiable,
which is to say they think you are some kind of religious nut. The advantage
of Quality is that it cannot be dismissed as unverifiable without falling
into absurdity. The positivist cannot say, for example, that his experiments
have no value, or that he does not think that anything is better, or worse,
that is, of more or less value, than anything else."
Hampday noted April 14th 2005:
The author's desire is wishful thinking, however, because qualitative
attributes are precisely what the methodology of logical positivism does not
allow.
Ant McWatt comments:
Ham,
Isn't it the case that if there is any "wishful thinking" happening it is
the positivist's desire for a value-free methodology as they can not escape
from saying that they think they approach is "better" (i.e. has more value)?
If you think they can escape from this contradiction, I'm all ears.
If you can't state how they can escape from this contradiction, isn't this
an indication that the MOQ is a substantial improvement on your
"Essentialist" system - at least, in this regard?
Best wishes,
Anthony
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