Hi Ron, You are onto something important in that Pirsig is the only philosopher I know of who has taken quantum research into account, namely the discovery that the dualistic mode of knowing (SOM) with its divisions of subject/object, cause/effect, mind/matter, etc., is ultimately shortsighted. One need only refer to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle to discover SOM's blind spot. A higher mode of knowing, the mode acknowledged so forcefully in the MOQ, is that of pure, direct experience, prior to any dualistic concepts whatsoever. As William James observed, "To know immediately then, or intuitively, is for mental content and object to be identical." Or, as Heisenberg himself said, " . . . the common division of the world into subject and object, inner world and outer world, body and soul, is no longer adequate and leads us into difficulties." And again, as Erwin Schroedinger, put it: "Subject and object are only one. The barrier between them cannot be said to have been broken down as a result of recent experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier does not exist."
So now we have two defects in the rational subject/object, cause/effect, mind/matter perspective: 1) it gives a false view of ultimate reality (quantum theory) and 2) it makes no provision for morals (the MOQ). You are rightfully focused on the first element of SOM's shortsightedness. I hope you will share your essay with us because the uniting of quantum theory with the MOQ is vital to our understanding of reality. Thanks, Platt > [Ron] > Hello Platt, > You are on to something I have been doing some reading on lately. My > intrests in the > origin of SOM has lead me to questions of causiality, a topic taken up by > the ancient > Greeks. Wiki sez: " > In the western philosophical tradition explicit discussion stretches back > at least as far as Aristotle, and the topic > remains a staple in contemporary philosophy journals. Though cause and > effect are typically related to events, > other candidates include processes, properties, variables, facts, and > states of affairs; which of these comprise > the correct causal relata, and how best to characterize the nature of the > relationship between them, has as yet > no universally accepted answer, and remains under discussion." > > The Quantum revolution is one that got it legs from the shift in > perspective of > causality from an essentialist view to one of a field theory defined in > "states". > > Max Born had stated that before the twentieth century Classic Newtonian > Physics was dominated by essentialist assumption. He stated: > > * "Causality postulates that there are laws by which the occurrence of an > entity B of a certain class depends on the occurrence of an entity A of > another class, where the word entity means any physical object, > phenomenon, situation, or event. A is called the cause, B the effect. > * "Antecedence postulates that the cause must be prior to, or at least > simultaneous with, the effect. > * "Contiguity postulates that cause and effect must be in spatial contact > or connected by a chain of intermediate things in contact." > > > Therefore, I found it may be arguable to conclude that the classic notion > of "cause and effect" is indeed influenced > by essentialism which indeed is the basis of SOM assumptions. I have > worked up a short essay that touches on the origin > of essentialism with Paremnides and works from there to define the origins > of "entities". > > I would argue as you have done, that the very definition of "reason" has > essentialism built into it. > that "Reason/logic cannot see that defect in itself just as telescope > cannot see itself in its field of view." > precisely because reason and logic ( as they are defined in the west) are > born of essentialism. > Essentialism is the mother of SOM, dropped when Physics successfully > calculated subatomic systems > in terms of wave states in the beginning of the twentieth century. It's > just taken this long for > western philosophy to catch up. 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/
