From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Mon Mar 24 2003 - 01:29:11 GMT
Matt:
Yeah, see, when you say, "our illusions are shattered," the only sense I
can make of illusions is if there exists a reality behind the appearance of
illusions. That's why I think Pirsig's riding a fence.
DMB says:
I can see why you'd think so, but I think you're mixing apples and oranges.
The appearance/reality distinction runs through all of Western Philosophy.
Its empiricism. It boils down to the simple question; how do I know if my
perceptions of the world are real? To pin this on Modernity, or to claim the
rejection of it defines postmodernity, I think, misrepresents things. If I
recall, Rorty is rejecting philosophy as a whole and the said distinction is
just one of the reasons for doing so.
On another note, Postmodernism has a broad enough meaning to include things
like postmodern art, architechture and literature. It is a whole set of
movements in a variety of fields. Even within philosophical postmodernism,
your definition is rather technical and extreme. Perhaps its an interesting
question and a new thread called "Pirsig the Rortyian" should be started,
but I don't think he gets to define the terms of the debate about whether or
not Pirsig is post-post or whatever.
On another note, both the MOQ and postmodernism are a reaction to the flaws
of Modernity. I think that pomo is part of the problem Pirsig is trying to
solve in rejecting SOM. The extreme pomos think they have rejected it too,
but they've only rejected the O and embraced the S. There are no
foundations, no truth. All we have are interpretations. Truth is a property
of sentences. The MOQ and this kind of pomo both reject objectivity to the
extent that even mysticism looks a like foundation to them. Which brings me
to the actual point...
The shattering of illusions, an enlightenment, a mystical experience,
whatever we might like to call it, is not related to the distinctions we use
in philosophy or epistemology. As Huston Smith said in summarizing the great
chain of being of the perennial philosophy, "Reality is graded, and with it,
cognition." (Notice how Pirsig's levels reflect a graded reality too.) The
idea that reality and consciousness are inseparable, the idea is Thou art
That, you ARE the ground of being. The epistemological quest to find the
real reality at the bottom of things is far different than the mystical
picture of a graded, evolutionary expansion of consciousness.
Thanks.
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