Dear John:

This is the hardest letter I've ever had to write.

Just kidding.

As I see it, you're doing the same thing again. Pirsig's enthusiasm for 
Bradley? And last time it was Pirsig's endorsement of Absolute Idealism? You 
are selectively using Pirsig's comments as evidence for your thesis. But the 
fact is, he denies the comparison twice in Lila and his comments in the 
annotations are mixed. Sometimes he sees similarities and he finds them 
exciting but he also distances the MOQ from the positions Bradley is staking 
out. What you've done is ignore the two denials in Lila and the all the 
negative comments on Bradley and use one of the positive comments to conclude 
that Pirsig has enthusiastically endorsed Absolute Idealism, which just so 
happens to serve the agenda you've always had. How handy, this form of 
reasoning is you have, my dear.

This is a form of intellectual dishonesty. You can't simply dismiss all the 
comments against it and then expect to come to a reasonable conclusion. A 
reasonable person who wanted to make a plausible case would take all the 
comments together as a whole and examine that with the MOQ as a whole. It would 
be totally plausible to make a case for how and why the similarities are 
interesting or something. But to begin by concluding that Pirsig's comments 
constitute an enthusiastic endorsement simply isn't plausible. The evidence as 
a whole shows that Pirsig's "enthusiasm" for Absolute Idealism has to be 
weighed against Pirsig's criticisms and denials of the same. That is a matter 
of simple honesty. This is not moral high-ground. Not unless you're a very low 
person. This is just basic stuff and you won't or can't do it. 

And that's why I'm not interested. I think you just don't know how to play by 
the most basic rules, not to mention the fact that you're so rude and insulting 
about it all. 


Tanks but no tanks,

dmb



> Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:42:30 -0700
> From: [email protected]
> 
> John said to dmb,
> 
>  Childish?  Sure, gleefully so.
> Incoherent?  Coherence is dependent upon the hearer.
> Insults without substance?  Insults without substance are easily shrugged
> off.
> 
> Seems to me the real issue is you don't even know where to begin.
> 
> Try a brick.
> 
> 
> If that's too difficult for your academically-oriented brain, then focus on
> the one true question I've been asking, how do you reconcile Pirsig's
> enthusiasm for Bradley with James'  denigration of  him?
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 6:48 AM, david buchanan <[email protected]>wrote:
> 
> >
> > John:
> >
> > See, this is why I'm not interested. First you try to "invite" me with
> > insults. Then you tell me to get off my "high-horse" while also saying you
> > agree with the "moral high ground". To cap it off, you make some vague
> > accusation of intellectual dishonesty and hypocrisy.
> >
> >
> > You're being childish, incoherent and your insults are without substance.
> > Plus I find it very hard to believe that you even understand your beloved
> > Absolute Idealism, which is a dead philosophy.
> >
> >
> > Why in the world would I be interested in having THAT conversation? Sorry,
> > but I think it would be a pointless waste of time.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 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/md/archives.html
                                          
_________________________________________________________________
The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with 
Hotmail. 
http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5
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/md/archives.html

Reply via email to