From: Matt the Enraged Endorphin (mpkundert@students.wisc.edu)
Date: Thu Mar 13 2003 - 05:24:38 GMT
Johnny,
Johnny said:
Is Quality real? I recall someone posting Quality=Reality a while back,
does "equals" mean "is"? Is Reality qual? How are they morality, which was
the third equality in that triangle, Reality=Morality=Quality?
Matt:
In my mind, Quality is the ultimate metaphor. I follow Donald Davidson in
thinking metaphors are indecipherable sounds or scratches. This fits
perfectly well with Pirsig's attempt to leave Quality undefined. As such,
when we say that "Quality is Reality" we cannot take it in any literal
sense. It only has a metaphorical sense, meaning it only has the force of
a stick hitting our head (as Squonk might say). Metaphors cannot be part
of knowledge because knowledge is about things we can understand, things we
can move about on an intellectual chessboard. Metaphors cause us to change
our beliefs, they aren't reasons to change our beliefs. So, saying
"Quality is Reality" forces us to think of the world in a particular
way. I think one appropriate way to explicate it is "morality," because at
the bottom of morality is judgement and the metaphor forces us to think of
ourselves as constantly making judgements. Another appropriate way is
"relational," because if everything is judging, then everything is in a
constant flux, pushing back and forth against each other.
This is why I think Quality is an anti-essence, a poisonous term to put
into any system that purports to correspond to the way things truly are.
Matt
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