From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Mon Sep 22 2003 - 14:21:25 BST
Hi Sam,
> I wanted to make a brief comment on the question of Pirsig's
> originality. You said:
>
> > Pirsig far from original? Where in Northrop or any other philosopher
> > or writer past or present will you find an assumption like this:
> >
> > "Because Quality is morality. Make no mistake about it. They're
> > identical. And if Quality is the primary reality of the world then
> > that means morality is also the primary reality of the world. The
> > world is primarily a moral order." (Lila, ch.7)
> >
> > That can hardly be called a "prevalent world-view." As far as I know,
> > it's original with Pirsig. Reality is morality? Huh? The man must have
> > missed his morning medication. :-)
>
> To say that the world is primarily a moral order is, as I understand it,
> a rephrasing of the traditional understanding of creation, ie that the
> created world is both an expression of the divine creator (it shares in
> His nature, ie goodness, ie value, Quality) and something which cannot
> be separated from the divine creator. It is axiomatic in theology - so
> whilst not a 'prevalent world-view', it's not that obscure either.
>
> Augustine: "I beheld all other things that are beneath Thee, and I saw
> that they had neither any absolute being, nor that they had absolutely
> no being at all. They have a being because they are of Thee; and they
> have no Being, because they be not what Thou art." (Confessions ch 7)
>
> Aquinas: "...as long as a thing has being, God must be present to it,
> according to its mode of being...Although corporeal things are said to
> be in another as in that which contains them, nevertheless spiritual
> things contain those things in which they are; as the soul contains the
> body. Hence also God is in things as containing them: nevertheless by a
> certain similitude to corporeal things, it is said that all things are
> in God; in asmuch as they are contained by Him." (Summa Theologica, 8.i)
>
> I see Pirsig as giving an old idea new linguistic clothes (reality is
> morality is Quality = reality is God).
Thanks for pointing this out. You're quite correct. I had in mind those
who are primarily thought of as philosophers--Plato, Aristotle, Bacon,
Descartes, Kant, Rand and the rest of that crowd. I wasn't thinking of
theologians, but failed to make that clear. Somewhere Pirsig admits to
the divine nature of DQ but says he had to hide because if he didn't,
science types (and the millions who believe that science's mechanistic
explanations are sacrosanct) would immediately dismiss his ideas
without a fair hearing.
I appreciate your connection of the MOQ with what is axiomatic in
theology -- a point well taken. :-)
Platt
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