Platt, I see what Pirsig was getting at in restricting the third level of society to human society. But I also see a lot of insight to gain in the analysis of how social animals cooperate and comparing that with humans.
Perhaps a term that might work for the "different animal" that human societies evolve into is "communal". Language is more than merely social, it's communal. > > [Platt] > Are not all dichotomies fallacious in the sense you cannot have one without > the other? Can there be a whole with parts, or many without one? To say > individuals are related to society is like saying people are related to > air. Doesn't tell you much about people or air. If individuals and people > always together, why make a distinction? > Good point. Bad terminology on my part. I was trying to get across the idea of "creative conflict" as opposed to true conflict between individual and society. > > [John] > Furthermore, strong individuals can only be created by a strong society and > a strong society can only be created by strong individuals. > [Platt] > What defines a "strong individual?" > Well when I started that chapter in Royce's philosophy and read that part about strong individuals, what flashed into my mind was the Zuni in Lila. That was a strong individual. But look at all the barriers he had to fight, even go through torture, and yet he persisted in caring about what happened to his society. If his society had been weak and wishy washy, he wouldn't have had to exhibit so much strength or develop his strength. I think of strength as something you get with resistance. But also Platt, it makes a case for your politics doesn't it? In a liberal economic system that takes care of all its individuals, they never develop the necessary necessity that is the mother of invention. I could discuss this topic more intelligently if I hadn't had to take that library book back before I'd finished. John up early in the morn... 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/ -- ------------ There are differing interpretations of Reality, some are just better than others, that's all. ------------ 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/
