Hi Andre, You assert that "justice/fairness/human rights/equal opportunity/etc,etc" are intellectual level pattens of value. Instead, this litany of cliches sounds to me like what Pirsig describes in Lila as a "soup of sentiments." Furthermore, your imply that it's government's role to coerce submission to whatever those in power deem this soup of sentiments to mean in practice. I need not remind you that Mao considered it "fair" to deprive landowners of their property and, in many cases, their lives.
Pirsig leaves no doubt about the relationship of intellect and human rights. . "This soup of sentiments about logically nonexistent entities can be straightened out by the Metaphysics of Quality. It says that what is meant by "human rights" is usually the moral code of intellect-vs. - society, the moral right of intellect to be free of social control." (Lila, 24) In other words, society (government) is wrong to interfere with a human's right to choose based on his intellectual assessment of the "good," provided that assessment does no direct physical harm to another. I see this as the proper direction for MOQer's to take -- towards individual liberty/responsibility and away from government control excerpt when necessary to defeat biological forces, e.g., radical Islam. How does that sound to you? Have we saved the world from any more Stalin's, Mao's, Castro's and their ilk? Regards, Platt On 10 Nov 2009 at 11:28, Andre Broersen wrote: > Platt to Andre: > For what it's worth, I agree with you. > > Andre: > This is very nice to know Platt, thank you. > > Platt: > Now if we could agree that the MOQ sees free market capitalism as > superior to socialism . . . > But, alas. I guess that is not to be. > > Andre: > Well Platt, do not shut your door too rapidly. The MoQ has some very > clear things to direct your thinking: In Lila, p224 Pirsig states very > clearly that 'from a static point of view socialism is more moral than > capitalism. It's higher form of evolution. It's an intellectually > guided society... . So Platt, replace capitalism with socialist > intellectual PoV's okay? > Now, the MoQ also says that the 'free market is a Dynamic > institution'. (p, 225). It is a dynamic social pattern of values. 'The > MoQ says the free market makes everybody richer by preventing static > economic patterns from setting in and stagnating economic growth'. > (ibid). > > If the MoQ is about a universal program of evolving morality (DQ/SQ), > and it values, as a guiding principle, the best (highest quality) > solutions then it follows that a combination of an intellectually > guided free market society (let's base these on a socialist/MoQ led > ideology [based on such intellectual PoV's as justice/fairness/human > rights/equal opportunity etc,etc] appears as the highest quality > solution (which, of course remains provisional). > > How does that sound Platt? > > Have we just saved the world from further doom and gloom, > environmental degradation and spiritual emptiness? > > Provisionally yours, > Andre 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/
