From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun Apr 24 2005 - 23:31:50 BST
Matt and all:
DMB said:
Philosophy is supposed to be about life and if your philosophy is about
philosophy then it is not about life.
Matt replied:
Are the books we read not part of our lives? ...As I quipped in my paper,
"Why is the experience of a book relegated to a lower position than the
experience of a hot dog?"
dmb says:
OK, now you're just being stubborn. Are you really gonna sit there and
pretend the difference between hunting whales and reading Moby Dick is
meaningless?
Personally, books mean a helluva lot more to me than hot dogs do. Most of
what I think and believe comes from books, but that's not the point.
As I keep trying to point out, Pirsig's MOQ was born out of experience;
namely his realization that books and ideas and reason can only take a
person so far. At a certain point, shortly after his conflict with the
Chairman, he saw the fultility and limits of intellect. And it wouldn't be
too much of an exaggeration to say that the whole point of the MOQ is to
provide a framework that does not dismiss that kind of decidedly
non-literary experience.
Matt said:
So, say what you will that what I write is dead and boring and lifeless...
dmb replies:
OK. But let me remind you that you have a choice here. You can continue to
take my complaints as a personal insult. A better and more accurate choice
would be to take my complaints as an attack on certain ideas that don't
really have much to do with you personally. (I would complain no matter WHO
said it.) Or you can choose to be flattered that I see you and your ideas as
such a threat. I mean, if I had no respect for your talents I probably
wouldn't bother to complain at all.
I mention this because people who feel they are under attack can't hear very
well. It has a way of clouding the mind.
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