Chris and all MOQers:
dmb says:
I think the topic of politics can best be seen in chapters 22 and 24 of Lila.
There you can see how the MOQ's static levels (and the moral codes) work to
diagnose the political conflicts of the last century or so. Pirsig paints this
as a battle between the social and intellectual levels. These same distinctions
are also used to offer a solution.
"The central term of confusion between these two levels of codes is 'society'.
Is society good or is society evil? The question is confused because the term
'society' is common to both these levels, but in one level society is the
higher evolutionary pattern (society vs biology) and in the other it is the
lower (intellect vs society). Unless you separate these two levels of moral
codes you get a paralyzing confusion as to whether society is moral or immoral.
That paralyzing confusion is what dominates all thoughts about morality and
society today."
"In a subject-object understanding of the world these terms ('human rights' and
'reasonable') have no meaning. There is no such thing as 'human rights'. There
is no such thing as moral reasonableness. There are just subjects and objects
and nothing else. This soup of sentiments about logically non-existent entities
can be straightened out by the MOQ. It says that what is meant by 'human
rights' is usually the moral code of intellect vs society, the moral right of
intellect to be free of social control. Freedom of speech; freedom of assembly,
of travel; trial by jury; habeas corpus; government by consent - these 'human
rights' are all intellect vs society issues. According to the MOQ these 'human
rights' have not just a sentimental basis, but a rational, metaphysical basis.
They are essential to the evolution of a higher level of life. They are for
real."
Chris asked:
...From a MOQ perspective, what is the goal of politics? I mean, what would a
MOQist say that politics should strive for? The Goal then, not why it's there,
that's quite obvious, but the goal.
dmb says:
I think human rights and moral reasonableness are mighty fine in and of
themselves, but we can also see that they are instrumental in serving the MOQ's
larger goal, namely the ongoing evolution of intellect, which is the highest
evolution of life. There are tons of historical examples in these chapters that
should make the lines between the levels pretty clear. Pirsig denies being a
conservative in ZAMM and refers to himself as a 'liberal intellectual' in Lila
and when he was a professor in Montana, the right-wing politicians had him on
their blacklist and it is otherwise obvious that he leans to the left. But its
also pretty clear that he's not proposing any particular policies or programs.
He's interested in a better future as a practical matter, but he's doing
philosophy and not partisan politics.
_________________________________________________________________
Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live.
http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_012008
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/
