Marsha and David --
David said:
The kind of metaphysics you seem to demand can't be found any more
except in theological circles. and even there it would be considered
old-fashioned. Nietzsche announced the Death of God more than 100
years ago. I mean, intellectual fashions come and go but the death of
metaphysics is like the end of the horse. You're trying to sell buggy
whips
in a world in transition to the electric car. Most will see it as being
quite
useless, if not absurdly obsolete. More literally, you're trying to sell
essentialism to an anti-essentialist crowd. You're selling metaphysics
in a post-metaphysical world. That's why nobody's buying it.
Marsha responds:
Oh my gosh!!! What shit!!! Because I read it in a book??? Polly what a
cracker?????
Hold your fire, girl! Actually, most of what David says is right on. Read
my essay "Philosophy is Dead" in this week's Values Page column;
www.essentialism.net/balance.htm. For all practical purposes philosophy IS
dead in Western culture. The kind of metaphysics I'm advocating IS
"old-fashioned" and IS considered "obsolete" in the mindset of the typical
modernist. The urge to trash traditional values has infected the polemics
and morality of a society possessed with the notion that "change and
newness" are always better than what has stood the test of time. Indeed,
this is precisely why Essentialism is a hard sell today.
However, I'm not alone in fighting for philosophical creditability. Despite
the popularity of his books, Pirsig's world of Quality is hardly in the
forefront of prevalent ideologies. A lot of the resistance is due to
religion which, after all, has a 2000-year tradition behind it. But in its
wake is an even more intractable revolt against spirituality in general,
which has made nihilists of believers and persuaded most of the civilized
world that non-belief is the "new enlightenment".
I've been called "old-fashioned" for so long now that it no longer bothers
me. Small-minded people who pick and choose their belief system by
stereotyping their sources are of little interest to me. What I'm looking
for are free-thinkers with the intellectual integrity to be THEIR OWN
authority. I dare say Mr. Pirsig also places his trust in independent
thinkers, since they're invariably the folks who induce change in our
culture. We should remember Hegel's dialectic paradigm for progress:
Thesis - Antithesis - Synthesis. This is why forums like the MD are
instrumental in fostering an exchange of ideas between thoughtful people.
I disagree with DMB that metaphysics is a "dad horse". I believe the
effectivness of a philosophy without metaphysics is like trying to drive a
car without an engine (to use a metaphor) . On the other hand, I can't
disagree that a long, uphill battle is necessary to change society's reality
perspective. And I'm not optimistic that this can be achieved, for the
reasons cited above.
Thanks to both of you for your interest and candor.
--Ham
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