Quoting Ron Kulp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> [Platt]
> I argue for the superiority of a particular culture based on Pirsig's
> moral
> hierarchy, as he explained:
>
> "A culture that supports the dominance of social values over biological
> values is an absolutely superior culture to one that does not, and a
> culture that supports the dominance of intellectual values over social
> values is absolutely superior to one that does not. It is immoral to
> speak
> against a people because of the color of their skin, or any other
> genetic
> characteristic because these are not changeable and don't matter anyway.
>
> But it is not immoral to speak against a person because of his cultural
> characteristics if those cultural characteristics are-immoral. These are
>
> changeable and they do matter." (Lila, 24)
>
> In other words, I think multiculturism based on the premise that all
> cultures are morally equal is bunk, the British teacher in Sudan facing
> 6
> months in prison and 40 lashes for allowing her class to name a teddy
> bear
> Mohammed being a current case in point.
>
> {Ron]
> If anything this illustrates the need for caution in regard to these
> statements. There are Many factors involved in the success of a culture.
> And in generalized statements such as the one you posted, there is a
> huge
> Danger of doing just what you are implying. Justifying the concept of
> superiority. When I went looking for intellect, I found it was a process
> Of the individual and culture. So an intellectually superior culture is
> one
> Where the individual considers themselves free. They may not be free by
> Other cultural standards but by their own they are. Freedom is relative.
>
> The dangerous thing about quotes out of context is the implication
> The quote makes without the supporting body of work. Having read
> Pirsig and weighed that statement against the body
> Of his work, I feel he was making a general statement about
> The evolutionary process of social values. I really hope
> He's not advocating cultural elitism it makes him no better
> Than someone who justifies racial superiority on similar
> Grounds. MoQ would amount to an enlightened gentler Nazi
> Regime of cultural superiority. All other cultures judged
> inferior by MoQ standards would be justifiably extinguished
> as per the levels of evolutionary progress toward better-ness.
> Based on the grounds that it is deemed immoral by our standards
> Of intellect and freedom by our cultural definition of those terms.
The MOQ wouldn't justify extinguishing a lower culture unless that culture
threatened to extinguish a higher one. "Where biological values are undermining
social values intellectuals must identify social behavior, not matter its ethnic
connection, and support it all the way without restraint. Intellectuals must
find
biological behavior, no matter what its ethnic connection, and limit or destroy
destructive biological patterns with complete moral ruthlessness., the way a
doctor
destroys germs, before those biological patterns destroy civilization itself."
(Lila,24) Otherwise, we could not morally justify our victory in WW II.
Best regards,
Platt
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