Re: MD Dealing with S/O pt 1

From: Dan Glover (daneglover@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Sep 19 2003 - 01:03:31 BST

  • Next message: Platt Holden: "Re: MD Dealing with S/O pt 1"

    Hello everyone

    >From: "Scott R" <jse885@spinn.net>
    >Reply-To: moq_discuss@moq.org
    >To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
    >Subject: Re: MD Dealing with S/O pt 1
    >Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 16:39:20 -0600
    >
    >DMB,
    >
    > > dmb says [to Bo]:
    > > Any case of non-SOM intellectual static patterns refutes SOLAQI. Pirsig
    > > names several and that's enough to show that it doesn't work.
    >
    >(Please note, in the following I will be referring to S/O, not SOM).
    >
    >Pirsig's examples are non-S/O only because of the way he has defined
    >subject
    >and object. My beef with Pirsig is this way of defining them. In LC #111
    >(with the numbering corrected):

    Hi Scott

    First of all, I'm quite mortified to see this mistake but thank you for
    pointing it out. It will be corrected in a future edition. I cannot believe
    I failed to catch it. In my defense, the mistake doesn't occur in earlier
    incarnations of LC so it must have crept in during the printing process. I
    tell you, there are times when I could just scream.

    >
    >"Object n.
    >1. Something perceptible by one or more of the senses, expecially by vision
    >or touch; a material thing.
    >2. A focus of attention, feeling, thought, or action.
    >3. The purpose, aim [etc.]
    >4. [grammatical object]
    >5. Philosophy. Something intelligible or perceptible by the mind.
    >(American Heritage Dictionary)
    >
    >"The "objects" in the MOQ refer to Definition #1. Objects are biological
    >patterns and inorganic patterns, not thoughts or social patterns. The
    >"objects" Danny refers to seem to be in Definition #5. It seems to be that
    >in Definition #5 subjects can also be objects. Thus any distinction between
    >them is meaningless."
    >
    >First, his objection at the end is silly. When I think of a rose, the rose
    >is the object. When I think of my thinking of the rose, the thinking of the
    >rose is an object. When I think about the concept "subject", the concept
    >"subject" is an object. All quite meaningful.

    Not sure I follow you here. How is it that when "you" think of a rose, the
    rose becomes an object? Isn't the concept "you" a subjective state of mind?
    Philosophically?

    >
    >But mainly, I object because there is now no way to talk about the S/O
    >divide, using "O" as in definitions #2 or #5. It is as if Pirsig wants to
    >eliminate the separation between self and other by defining it away.
    >Defnitions #2 and #5 exist for a reason. Without them, we just have to
    >invent new words. That is,...
    >
    > > But mostly I think its a solution in search of a problem.
    >
    >The problem is that there is no way to talk about the intellect without
    >talking about an X/Y divide, traditionally called the S/O divide. But we
    >can't use "object" for "Y" and since subject in the #5 sense is also
    >verboten, what do we use instead? Well, in the MOQ one can refer to static
    >patterns of value, so we have at least X/SPoV. Now what goes into "X"? In
    >the MOQ, the only thing that is not SPoV is DQ, but that is not what is
    >traditionally thought of as the "subject". So how do I talk about thinking,
    >perceiving, feeling, understanding, willing, etc. in general terms, that
    >is,
    >philosophically?

    Again, I'm not seeing the problem here so I don't have an answer. But many
    thanks for pointing out the mistake.

    Dan

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