From: Richard Loggins (brloggins@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue May 06 2003 - 14:41:09 BST
DAn,You probably should have followed through with your suggestion to Mr. Pirsig. Would you agree that there's not much difference between saying "life is matter which has been configured by DNA" and "life is matter which was configured by DNA", and a big difference between either of those and "life is matter which is being configured by DNA"?
The word "has" can be used as the third person present, as in "He has athlete's foot", but when "has" is used as an auxilliary in the verb phrase "has been", the tense refers to a situation in the past that relates in some way to the present. Also, the present participle is formed by adding -ing to a verb, so it would be "being", not "been".
Compare:1. The quarry was worked by immigrants.
2. The quarry has been worked by immigrants. The implication in (1) is that immigrants, perhaps exclusively, worked the quarry at some specific time in the past and there is the suggestion that the quarry is now closed. The emphasis in (2) is that immigrants worked the quarry at some points in the past, perhaps not exclusively, and that the quarry is still open.
Compare:
3. Life is matter which was configured by DNA. 4. Life is matter which has been configured by DNA. 5. Life is matter which is being configured by DNA.
The suggestion in (3) is that life is matter that once was configured by DNA but no longer is. (4) suggests that life is matter that once was configured by DNA and is still configured by DNA.
(4) is less patent nonsense than (3) but still wrong because Struan's dead cat is considered life by this definition. (5) gives the impression DNA was acting on matter to give it its configuration and is still actively doing so, and this is the meaning you want to convey. Rich
Dan Glover <daneglover@hotmail.com> wrote:
Hi Richard, Phyllis, Rick, and everyone,
The way I understand it, "has" is being used as third person present tense
while "been" is being used as a present participle, so I don't think Mr.
Pirsig made a mistake.
Valence wrote:Hey Dan and Phyllis,
>
>Isn't a dead cat matter that *was* configured by DNA? For example, if I cut
>the skin of a living cat, it's body will heal because it is still being
>configured by the DNA that tells it how to behave. If I cut the skin of a
>dead cat, no healing will ever occur because it's no longer being
>configured
>by the DNA that tells it how to behave.
Right. Struan's dead cat HAD been configured by DNA. Actually I thought
about suggesting to Mr. Pirsig that the statement be changed to "is being"
rather than "has been" but upon further reflection the statement seemed
correct as is and my suggestion unnecessary.
Dan
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