Hi Ron --
You wrote to Marsha: > As I've said before, reason is just a word for intellectual quality. This is the kind of definition that keeps Pirsig's quality unfathomable to less dogmatic followers like myself. It's one thing to say that a properly reasoned conclusion is logical, well-founded, and justifiable within a logical framework. In the sense that it serves as a ground of explanation for a premise, it is good and "has quality". But one's reasoning can also be flawed, in which case the conclusion is false, unsupported, and of "low quality". As I see it, reason is an intellectual process whereby empirical evidence is organized in a cogent way that leads to a rational conclusion. A rational conclusion, by the way, does not express an "absolute truth"; it is only reasonable by virtue of the intellect's propensity to accept the logic of a proposition whose premises are consistent. Logic is a product of the intellect, and the assumption that the universe must conform to the principles of human intellection is itself flawed. To assert that "reason" and "intellectual quality" are synonymous muddies the waters and distorts the meaning of both terms. By Pirsig's equation, Quality = Morality. Now you're telling us that Quality = Intellect. I've been saying for a long time that quality and goodness (normative morality) are relative to individual experience and his/her perception of the world, and that this kind of valuation is what we're all about. The cognizant creature is an autonomous agent of value (call it "quality" if you must). It is reasonable to have faith in the conclusions of science and logic for practical purposes in a relational world. But in no sense is the individual a free agent of "intellect", nor does the physical universe operate according to intellectual principles (of either high or low quality). Regards, Ham Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
