From: Allen Barrows (allen_barrows@yahoo.co.uk)
Date: Wed Jun 22 2005 - 22:30:32 BST
Paul - If I may now add that:
a) by "problem-solving" I meant physical problem-solving like pulling
levers, moving blocks into holes etc., not quadratic equations and such
like.
b) I think that only humans think because it seems as though only
humans
write and speak in sentences or mathematical or logical notation. So I
already use a fairly narrow definition of thinking anyway.
Allen - Hello Paul and Mike, Again i agree with Pauls view of this matter. And what is more, ZMM has much to indicate that harmony and the appreciation of mathematical, linguistic or logical relationships was very much in Robert Pirsigs thoughts when he wrote it.
Do you not think?
Indeed, as we find in Anthony McWatts book:
This emphasis on the ontological reality of harmony is given
throughout Pirsig’s work (especially ZMM) and indicates why the MOQ is a form of
moral realism (i.e. where moral truth is grounded in the nature of things) rather than
a subjectivist or an emotivist theory of ethics. For Pirsig, therefore, sentences
containing terms such as ‘good’ are expressing a genuine proposition.
It is this harmony, this beauty, that is at the center of it all… It is the quest of
this special classic beauty, the sense of harmony of the cosmos, which makes us
choose the facts most fitting to contribute to this harmony. (Pirsig, 1974a, p.268)
This view is supported by Nagarjuna (c.300a, p.275) who relates ‘nothingness’ to
the underlying harmony of the universe:
Sunyata (non-dual understanding) as the principle of comprehension is the
true principle of harmony. The harmony worked on the basis of sunyata is the
highest kind, and of all the ways of establishing harmony, this is the best. This
harmony excels all others.
I think Bo may argue that we have here support for his assertion that the Classic equals intellectual in ZMM. But i think this is where Bo makes an unfortuante mistake because It seems clear to me that Robert Pirsig already had a good understanding of Sunyata when he wrote ZMM but could not usefully employ it with a US readership. To do so would have made more difficult that which Robert Pirsig wished to make simple.
Comprehension, understanding, intellectual appreciation as an aesthetic comes before any consideration of a socially reinforced subject and object. This is way too much for a Western audience to see when you talk about nothingness and harmony i think.
Robert Pirsig gets around this by talking about beauty and mathematics in Poincare, Einstein etc. and then moves from epistemology on to metaphysics. We can see here the intellectual realm already in ZMM as an aesthetic appreciation of Universal harmony is totally removed from any social considerations of subject and object.
It seems to me that ZMM is replete with many examples of the intellectual level being responsive to harmony, and harmony Robert Pirsig associates with Nothingness or Quality.
Thank you,
Allen
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