From: Valuemetaphysics@aol.com
Date: Wed Mar 24 2004 - 22:31:35 GMT
In a message dated 3/24/04 3:36:50 PM GMT Standard Time, pholden@sc.rr.com
writes:
> Sorry Mark, I don't buy it. You'll have to provide some evidence that the
> inorganic level is evolving.
Hi Platt,
May i refer you to Anthony MacWatt's paper, Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality,
available via the index of essays at the forum website. At the end of the
first section you will find a diagram which indicates the continued evolution of
all levels beyond the emergence of the previous level.
1. Note how the gradient of each level is moving up the evolution axis of the
diagram with respect to the direction of time?
2. Note also that each level is evolving faster with respect to time than is
the previous level?
Also, consider the following from the end of the paper:
Pirsig has this to say about probability and preference:
"When the distinction between them is examined an interesting fact appears.
Preference is always supposed to be subjective. It exists only at the
intellectual and social levels. At the biological level it becomes controversial as to
whether animals such as cats have a preference or if they function according
to Skinnerian stimulus-and-response probability. And at the atomic level it is
assumed that only probability exists."
"The MOQ puts an end to this ancient freewill vs. determinism controversy by
showing that both preference and probability are subsets of value. As the
distinction between subject and object becomes relatively unimportant in the MOQ,
so does the distinction between probability and preference. There is no basic
difference between mind and matter with regard to free will, only a difference
in degree of freedom. Subatomic forces can express limited preferences too."
(letter from Robert Pirsig to Anthony McWatt, May 3rd, 1997)
i.e. preference is seen as being on a continuum rather than suddenly
manifesting itself at the human level. In the MOQ, the higher up the evolutionary
ladder you go (from sub-atomic particles to people) the more freedom you have in
making preferences. This is why generally a person's experience will be that
much richer and complex than a dog's while the dog's experience will be that
much better than a tree's which will be better than a piece of rock's and so on.
(My emphasis.)
Hope this helps Platt?
All the best,
Mark
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