Hi Marsha,
Bo's SOL is not something with which I agree, or disagree, for I do not
fully understand it. I agree with Bo primarily on two issues: 1) that
the
Intellectual Level should be understood as the subject/object level,
and 2)
that the MoQ's dynamic/static point-of-view is best modeled as a level
above
the Intellectual Level.
Pirsig commented on Bo's SOL thesis in his letter to Paul Turner as
well:
"The argument that the MOQ is not an intellectual formulation but some
kind of other level is not clear to me. There is nothing in the MOQ
that I know of that leads to this conclusion."
I understand your point that such statements don't account for the sort
of give and take of a conversation, but what is clear to me is that
Pirsig considered the SOL idea and the idea that the MOQ is some fifth
level and found it to be incoherent with his MOQ.
I do not think I have much to add to my
interpretation, but I will try to explain one more time.
For me, the Intellectual Level represents patterns/processes that
objectify
and manipulate abstract symbols. From Wikipedia's entry on
objectification:
"Objectification is the process by which abstract concepts are treated
as if
they were concrete things or physical objects. In this sense the term
is
synonym to reification." And while within the Intellectual Level
subjective
values are rejected, these objectified(reified) entities are acted
upon by a
'subject'. Voila! Subject and objects! Algebra and machine language
are
sets of rules used by subjects to manipulate the 'objects'. Ian very
nicely
reminded me of the lecturing Physicist that said during his
explanation of
the calculation to determine particle spin, that this is not just
mathematics but something "real". There, seems to me, is a very good
example of the reification of something that is not immediately
identified
as an object.
Steve:
I see deciding whether particle spin is just subjective or something
objectively real is just one sort of intellectual practice whereas Bo's
SOL takes it to be the whole shebang. What about the practice of
deciding how to best represent a three dimensional object on a two
dimensional surface? What about the practice of solving crossword
puzzles? There are countless intellectual; practices that don't require
us to ask "is it objective or merely subjective?"
Best,
Steve
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/
