Hi Platt, Steve: >> As I've said before, reason is just a word for itellectual quality. It >> doesn't presuppose specific rules for deciding what ideas have quality >> i.e are reasonable. "Screw intellectual quality" sounds like a very bad >> policy to me. If she was serious it is the equal of religious people's >> rejection of reason in the name of faith.
Platt: >I'm not sure what Martha means by "screw reason," but to me her words >strike a responsive chord. Reason has conned us into believing that the >particles that make up a sunset are more real that its beauty. Steve: I agree that some have used reason as a bludgeon in this way, but as I said, all I mean by reasonable is "has intellectual quality." Platt: >In fact, I >judge intellectual quality by its aesthetic truth more than its >reasonableness. Steve: I see intellectual quality as an aesthetic judgment as well. Platt: >Beauty is trans-rational. It needs no explanation. It explains itself. The >key to its usefulness and appeal is it's trans-rational communication of >Quality. Steve: Sam Harris agrees that we don't have reasons for all of our beliefs. Our most basic beliefs like 2+2=4 are not taught by math books, we have to know that before we open the book. He uses the term intuition to describe these sorts of beliefs. That is very different, however, than saying that our beliefs don't have to be reasonable. Of course we should want our beliefs to have intellectual quality. Platt: >P.S. The response to your idea that the MOQ can be called a "Science of >Morals" has been less than deafening. Steve: This was your suggestion. I wouldn't call it that myself, I just said responded that Pirsig has already done so when he said that it is scientifically moral for a doctor to kill germs. I personally don't like it when people extend the term science to apply to any rational consideration. the MOQ is certainly a rational approach to ethics. Regards, Steve 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/
