Bodvar Skutvik (skutvik@online.no)
Fri, 24 Oct 1997 18:18:29 +0100
Hugo ended his writings thus:
> Is there a connection between arete and full-ness and the higher value of
> higher levels in MoQ? If one takes a very broad view on what evolution is
> about, then the evergrowing filling of places, the ongoing simultaneous
> creation and filling of 'roles' or 'niches' could be an apropriate picture,
> the becoming of levels being a step into a new possibility-space of
> existence. (And incidentally, I believe this nothingness, this empty
> possibility-space, is the very potency or dynamis which causes evolution.)
> Given this evolutionary picture, the morally good (in Pirsigs sense) of
> higher levels is that they increase the 'space to fill' of existence, and
> hence the world would in a sense be less rich without them. This then,
> given that the very existence of higher levels is conditioned on the
> constraining or limiting of the possibilities of the already existing, is
> this what Pirsig calls a moral code?
>
> Perhaps someone can offer a quote or commentary to cast more light on this?
>
> Regards
> Hugo
To start with your last sentence ...This then given...etc.
Yes, exactly, the gist of the MOQ is the constraint on a(ny) higher
moral level from the lower one (one level cannot exist without its
foundation). The most sensitive aspect of this doctrine is of
course the Intellect/Society moral code (which has been grandly
misunderstood by many critics and readers who thinks Pirsig is out
to bash the poor blacks of America to revenge the murder of his son
Chris). Being the top notch, Intellect is not limited from above and
interferes with Society's own struggle to constrain the biological
forces.
This, and what you wrote before, was good Hugo. Even if the "creating
and fulfilling of roles" idea was a new approach to me (is it from
Charles Peirce?) I think this interpretation of morals is more in
line with Pirsig's than the (post- Christian)
"responsible-for-one's-own-actions" one. That the world would be less
rich without the higher levels is correct (still, impossible witout
the lower ones), particularly the Intellect has unfolded a new
universe. Still, the dependencies upon the lower ones are mandatory.
That the "Quality term is identical with the Greek "Areté" is after
all Pirsig's main thesis. See the section in LILA where he follows
the RT trail (page 386). I seem to think that you Hugo once said that
the filling of a role/niche closes the window upon other trying to
reach it. A while back we spoke of other species - primates
preferably - on the verge of entering the Intellectual level
(realization of freedom as more valuable than social constraint). I
think this is true. Humankind has closed the door behind itself. No
other life form on earth can now develop societies advanced enough to
support intellect.
Also do I think that you are right when comparing the Viking's
seeming callousness to "Areté". In my view the Viking culture was a
"hibernation" of the arch-quality metaphysics, long after it had been
replaced by the Subject/Object one (later to become the morals of
Christianity) in the Middle East/Mediterranian region. The question
then is if the MOQ is a regression? In my opinion, yes, but in a
spiral sense; on a higher level.
Thanks for reading.
Bodvar.
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