From: MATTHEW PAUL KUNDERT (mpkundert@students.wisc.edu)
Date: Fri Feb 20 2004 - 23:37:51 GMT
DMB said:
I have the impression that a big part of what you're up to, Matt, is bringing Rorty's general criticism of metaphysics to bear upon Pirsig specifically in order to improve it. But it seems that you and Rorty dislike all the things that Pirsig is NOT.
Matt:
Hmmm. This may be a stretch, but, if you and I apparently agree to some extent on what we like about Pirsig, wouldn't it be suffice to say to me that I'm seeing ghosts if I think he may have bad metaphysical tendencies?
In practice, I think what you see as my obvious, complete "lack of comprehension where Pirsig's KEY concepts are concerned," is simply your refusal to see connections between Pirsig and other philosophical idioms.
You say, "Pirsig's epistemology begins with value, then sensory experience, then comes language. This is my point." My point has been that, if we begin with value, we are beginning with something like James' "the trail of the human serpent is thus over everything" and that to then say that sensory experience comes next, followed by language, is to say with Pirsig that these are functions of common sense. And then when Pirsig says, "The fundamental reality is not the common sense or the objects and laws approved of by common sense but the approval itself and the quality that leads to it," he's agreeing with my favorite pragmatists that common sense can change and that it may someday not make any sense (given certain contexts) to say that "linguistic custom is different than data, which is also different than intellectual descriptions." Pirsig's agreeing that his own mode of discourse may someday become outdated, though his key ideas may last a bit longer.
It's fine to say that the real Pirsig is not a metaphysician in the sense I use, but I don't understand the vehemently negative appraisals of my project, reading skills, and intelligence if what I'm first claiming is that Pirsig _sounds_ like a bad metaphysician because of the words and locutions he uses. The further claim that apparently riles your feathers is that Pirsig _could_ be a bad metaphysician because of the words and locutions he uses. But, given my third claim that Pirsig _shouldn't_ be read as a bad metaphysician (whether he is or not), I would think the natural response would be, "Pirsig may sound like a bad metaphysician (or not), but he isn't a bad metaphysician. So, I agree with your third claim that Pirsig shouldn't be read as a bad metaphysician. I just think your suspicions are unfounded."
In this case, you would be questioning my reading skills, but in no way would I have "repeatedly demonstrated a lack of comprehension where Pirsig's KEY concepts are concerned." What I _would_ have repeatedly demonstrated is a tendency to be distracted by the concepts that aren't key. But it would be apparent that I understand his key concepts because my point has been for a long time that, e.g., Pirsig's use of the word "metaphysics" or the locution "fundamental reality" is extraneous to his key points.
And, in this case, you might then find some use for my posts. Since your main disagreement with me would be that my suspicions of Pirsig are unfounded, and we still have the agreement on how Pirsig should be read, you could cut away all of my unfounded criticisms and pull out some potentially interesting connections between Pirsig and other philosophers.
But, ya' know, whatever. I gave up hope on you a long time ago. I'm just tired of your sickeningly patronizing attitude towards everybody. Over the years, given what you write and particularly the way you write, I cannot help but draw the conclusion that you have a pretty low opinion of most people who write in to this discussion list. So your habit of "thanking" us for our time seems pretty condescending.
Matt
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