From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Fri Nov 18 2005 - 16:46:14 GMT
Hi Mike,
You wrote to Matt:
> I'm fairly sure that you're using "subject" and "object" as an
> analogy, to be taken with a large pinch of salt, but in any case I
> want to re-phrase this more accurately, as "the individual intellect
> evolved out of the group mind". This re-phrasing makes it patently
> obvious that the distinguishing characteristic is autonomy.
Further on you said:
> I'm now fairly convinced that
> autonomy is more fundamental to the 4th level than "intellect" per se, but
> I also think that autonomy is more fundamental to the 4th level than
> eudaimonia, as well, although perhaps this is what you mean by "emphasizing
> the shift"?
I'm not sure what you and Matt mean by "autonomy" but to me it means
"individual" as opposed to "group." As such, I have argued that the
intellectual level might well be called the "individual" level and wonder
if you are tending to that conclusion also. After all, we know from Pirsig
that intellectual level values are all essentially individual vs. group
values -- the rights of free speech, religion, travel, trial by jury, etc.
We also know that intellect (manipulating meaningful symbols) is a
uniquely individual process that arises independently mind by mind. As
singular as fingerprints, one's thoughts can never be exactly like
another's. (What is called consensus or "groupthink" is a symbolic
abstraction arrived by counting individual opinions.) Of course, the
social level also consists of individual thinkers, but there the emphasis
is on the community and solidarity rather than autonomy, i.e. the
sovereign free spirit.
My suggestion to rename the highest level the individual level was met
with fierce opposition by those who lean to the "we must sacrifice for the
sake of others" worldview as opposed to the "each has a right to exist for
his own sake" view. I wonder if you are leaning toward the latter.
Regards,
Platt
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