Hi Platt, Yes, you are correct, the question is, is there some rational way to understand the I that experiences. Sure, it is easy to throw words such as illusion or meaninglessness around, but that does not answer the question I have. That question is at the heart of my philosophical inquest. This is why I ask how does MoQ deal with this. Is the subjective just a bundle of cells? If so, what makes it my subjective? Draw me a picture of MoQ's tackle of this. This is not the first time I have thrown this question to the forum as I'm sure you appreciate.
If indeed the intellect is relegated to the position of observer. If the intellect is a catalogue of what is happening after the fact. If the intellect is on some kind of tape delay, then why does it seem so important to us? Many would claim that we are our thoughts. This would be akin to saying that a photograph is the real thing. In many ways, MoQ seems to elevate the photograph to the real thing. I know that is not its intent, and such as photograph is a depiction of the underlying real thing, but by elevating the intellect it loses some of my zeal. Is the self more than that. Is there some non-physical basis to it? Is it a self that is experiencing the body and mind, this time around? But here unfortunately I get into the spiritual which I believe Pirsig would claim is just the experience of an untrained mind. Oh, but it is so much more than that, and it doesn't take much reductionist philosophizing to get there. One can be distracted by SOM, but take those pictures away and what have you got? Mark On Nov 21, 2009, at 2:52:00 PM, [email protected] wrote: From: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MD] British Emergentism Date: November 21, 2009 2:52:00 PM PST To: [email protected] On 21 Nov 2009 at 12:41, markhsmit wrote: > HI Platt, > I like the tuning fork analogy. The body (or the brain if > you are so inclined) is what hums. What is feeling > the humming? A tuning fork requires an ear. If > the tuning fork experiences its own humming is it > the metal that is experiencing? Can music experience > itself? I believe so, if we say that the body can experience > itself. Hi Mark (Bo mentioned), Your questions remind me of another: Who is the I that knows me? Some say the self is an illusion, so the question is meaningless. Still, I wonder -- and wondering is why I got involved in philosophy in the first place. > Some interesting speculation about time going on. What > may be new is the way in which it relates to MoQ. It has > been shown through physiological experiments using electrodes > and imaging techniques, that our sense of time is retrospective. > We perceive time in hindsight, directly. That is we cannot experience > time until something happens afterward and we look back. > > Another input on this metasense, or experience of Quality before > the intellect. This has also been shown with physiological experiments. > If someone is asked to raise his hand in a moment, the intent (as seen > though electrophysiology) precedes the actual intellectual realization > of the intent by about 300 msec (or one third of a second). That is > the decision is made before we realize it. Our realization is just > a hindsight intellectualization of what is already happened. So > perhaps this is where Quality is occurring. What does this say > about free will? If all are actions occur before we think about them > happening, the free will is not intellectual. The intellectual is simply > used to communicate or store what has already happened. I hope Bo will chime in here. He has pointed to the same discoveries to suggest a relationship with pure Quality experience and our understanding of what Pirsig means by ". . . direct experience independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions." I think both he and you are on to something important in explaining the MOQ. It sort of jibes with my conclusion about life and living, namely, that something else is going on, I know not what. Whether I'll ever find out, or whether it's possible for anyone to find out, is an open question. But the experiments you mention seem to open a door to new possibilities. > Is Quality at the forefront of free will? Does this Quality have > a purpose? Pirisg has a rather long discussion about free will in Lila, concluding with, "To the extent that one's behavior is controlled by static patterns of quality it is without choice. But to the extent that one follows Dynamic Quality, which is undefinable, one's behavior is free." (Lila, 12) About your question, "Does this Quality have a purpose," he wrote: "There is no quarrel whatsoever between the Metaphysics of Quality and the Darwinian Theory of Evolution. Neither is there a quarrel between the Metaphysics of Quality and the "teleological" theories which insist that life has some purpose. What the Metaphysics of Quality has done is unite these opposed doctrines within a larger metaphysical structure that accommodates both of them without contradiction." (Lila, 11) Regards, Platt > On Nov 21, 2009, at 6:29:03 AM, [email protected] wrote: > From: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MD] British Emergentism > Date: November 21, 2009 6:29:03 AM PST > To: [email protected] > On 20 Nov 2009 at 11:34, Andre Broersen wrote: > > > Platt: > > To be precise, all concepts such as "time" and explanatory dimensions" > > are intellectual PoV. Which brings to mind Bo's idea that the MOQ is > > transconceptual and therefore timeless, which fits with Quality being > > outside definition. Maybe we're getting somewhere after all. > > > > Andre: > > This is interesting Platt. Before I respond,( I haven't had 'time' to > > respond to Bodvar's post yet) can you tell me what you mean by 'the > > MoQ' being 'transconceptual'? > > > > I thought Pirsig was quite clear when he said that the MoQ is a static > > intellectual PoV ( or does your 'transconceptual' say something > > important about the intellectual level as well)? > > > > Cheers > > Andre > > Hi Andre, > > What I meant by transconceptual is knowledge beyond definition, > beyond words, "undifferentiated without conceptual distinctions." It refers > to our meta-sense, a higher form of understanding that recognizes the > beauty of the Parthenon and the truth of Godel's Theorem, a tuning fork > in the brain than hums when we stumble upon something of > exceptionally high quality -- like the MOQ.. > > Regards, > Platt 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/ 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/
