-KO in Chapter 11 i think Pirsig offers the MoQ as both an underpinning of evolutionary theory and as a philosophical explanation of teleology, and i can accept both: there is virtual teleology in human life.
[Krimel] What Pirsig seems want in his account of evolution is similar to what he wants when talking about iron filings having a "preference". He wants a universe filled with purpose and free will, a universe that can in some sense be held morally accountable. One of the great tragedies of my life occurred when I was about four. My lifelong friend and companion TaBee had to be thrown away. As he lingers in my memory, he was maybe 10 inches tall, black and white and dingy. I presume that at some stage, outside of my ability to recall, he was clean and fuzzy and cuddly. I had cuddled him into baldness but even as his fur wore away and he lost an eye, he was my best friend. It was a harsh lesson learning that my best friend was not alive. He had no feelings. He could not talk back. He was immune to pain and had no sense of humor. My parents bought me a puppy but we lived in a city and the puppy ran out to the road. That was that. In the end the "death" of TaBee was harder than the death of that nameless pup. Sadly, no amount of rationalization then or now can breathe life and purpose into an iron filing or a teddy bear. -KO When i am between the horns of a dilemma it does not make sense to say that all those transient quarks that momentarily comprise me are working together on my behalf to find a solution to my problem - its only slightly more understandable to consider that all my genes are together busy calculating to help me; no, it really only makes proper sense to say that 'I', the complete individual, is trying to come to a decision. In this sense, i think, we do have purpose and intention. [Krimel] We as creatures find it much easier to relate to other creatures. Preference and intention are so integral to our nature that we see them in everything. When my computer acts funky, and what computer doesn't, I swear at it. But this is just metaphorical. My laptop, which has replaced the bygone TaBee as my new best friend, does many things that are in fact "lifelike". I talk about it thinking and taking its own sweet time. But that is just the echo of my inner child. Any philosophy that attempts to imbue the universe with purpose and intent is just regressing to the intellectual equivalent of sucking its thumb. But the problem with this regression runs deeper. To use your example, let's say my genes and the cells that comprise me are all agents of free will with desires and preferences all their own. Those desires and purposes have almost nothing to do with me. My purposes and desires may be completely at odds with those of my genes. I might get a vasectomy and my genes can just blow it out their tiny spiraled asses. When I desire to drink too much, my brain cells are sacrificed like prisoners of war on an Aztec holy day. My purposes and desires take precedence over my cells and genes. Or if they decide to run amok and cluster into malignant tumors, their hopes and dreams can put an end to mine. There is little or no overlap. We have a long history of reading purpose and intent into the inanimate world. Ancient peoples made gods and goddess of forces of nature but in the end those forces are so capricious and at odds with human purpose that the tales of their deeds wind up sounding ironic. Whatever purpose and consciousness the timeless universe might have I am pretty sure it has nothing good to do with me. Seeing it as alive and intentional might help me feel kinship to it. It might give me some emotional security or the hope that if I can relate to it well enough I can sway its judgments and bend its will to mine. Like everyone else I am drawn to the Myth of Control. If I cannot control my fate perhaps I can suck up to the powers that do. It has been a hard lesson for humanity to shake loose of this illusion of consciousness in the inanimate world. I think it is childish to try to resurrect it. [KO] All this not withstanding the fact that there is no detectable trace of a wispy 'I' pervading my brain or body and therefore that 'I' is really illusory along with any will-power i appear to have. The wikipedia page on Teleology refers to this viewpoint as 'intrinsic finality'. [Krimel] Right, there is that watered down version of teleology that would classify the Heat Death as teleology. Unfortunately I don't think that is the kind of teleology Pirsig is seeking to prop up. I think he is trying to construct a philosophical thumb to suck. But don't let me get away with ignoring your point about the illusory "I". "I" just don't have time for that ATM. 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/
