From: jhmau (jhmau@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Fri Mar 07 2003 - 18:15:24 GMT
On 3 March 2003 11:42 AM Matt EE writes:
> Matt:
> I found this last post of yours, Kevin, to be quite good. The string of
> rhetorical questions get at the heart of how to classify Pirsig's
> achievement. You asked, "is it really Metaphysics if you don't offer a
> concrete epistemology?" I think this is the point at which modern
> philosophers will answer "No" and most here will answer "Yes." Since
Kant,
> philosophers decided that you needed to do epistemology before you did
> metaphysics. Since the middle of this century, more and more people have
> been coming out against epistemology. They don't think epistemology will
> lead anywhere.
>
> Pirsig seems to strike the view that you don't need epistemology. It's
all
> intuitive. You simply need to systematize your thoughts. As Kevin says,
> "Pirsig is committed to foundations. He's committed to offering a firm
> context for operating." Completing the post-modern turn, however, defuses
> any attempt at firmness. One of the post-modern insights is that our
> soft/hard metaphors aren't working out in metaphysics, just as our ocular
> metaphors aren't working out in epistemology. There isn't a philosophical
> foundation that if not found will lead to the destruction of knowledge as
> we know it. The post-moderns suggest that we eschew these foundational
> metaphors, that the distinction between hard natural sciences and soft
> social sciences is one about overall agreement. They suggest that
> "foundations" of knowledge not be seen as needed at all. That we see the
> conversation we are having now not founded on some bedrock, but floating
> through the air. The only thing keeping the conversation going is us, not
> because we've found a foundation upon which to plant our feet, but because
> we keep flapping our gums.
>
> Matt
Hi Matt EE, Matt S, Kevin and All,
I am disturbed by a flavor of futility in your post. I see an artist
painting a room. He paints it so beautifully. Finally he comes to the
last bit, and finds himself in a corner with no exit. He cannot get out of
the room without marring the beauty of his work. So he creates "floating
through the air" and leaves the room. Someone else will come and add to the
paint job so it doesn't matter. I can never complete anything. Whatever
happened to purpose?
Joe
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