Dave said:
A few days ago I indicated that I was done with trying to understand Pirsig's
Metaphysics of Quality because of the "kludges" he's used to fix errors in his
thinking. ... IMHO Pirsig's attempt to separate the word "intellect" from
"intellectual" by claiming "intellect is thought about anything" is both 'not
so smart' and 'pretty ridiculous'. ... I will admit that part of my problem
with Pirsig on this issue is ego based. I've spent the majority of my life as a
designer and believe that designing is, in part, an intellectual activity.
Under the MoQ, design is either not an intellectual activity or it only emerged
as one after the Classic Greek period. I believe that both premises are wrong.
dmb says:
You know, Dave, I don't see anything like an argument in your complaints. It
just looks like a frustrated guy throwing insults around. Criticism is a really
productive and wonderful thing if you do it right. Like a home-improvement
project, it always entails an implicit admission that things aren't quite as
good as they could be. But your criticisms seem to be aimed knocking the MOQ
whenever it makes you feel uncomfortable about your own personal morals and
values and attitudes. Your admission that your problem with the MOQ is ego
based strikes me a the truest thing you've ever said here.
Let's face it, the MOQ does not flatter your sensibilities. There is a very
wide streak of anti-intellectualism in our culture and those attitudes are not
exactly painted as a good thing in the MOQ. And so we see lots of resistance to
the intellect in various ways around here, most of which are far more egregious
than your's by the way. But still. I think it's fairly ridiculous to accuse
Pirsig of errors in thinking in such a flippant and unfounded way. It can be
done, of course. Nobody is above critical scrutiny. But you're all attitude
here. There is no actual critical analysis, at least as far as I can tell.
Your "argument" seems to be based on nothing but naked declarations of error
and wrongness. It's just an expression of disapproval but it is so lacking in
any real substance that it's hard to even respond. It's like trying to block a
punch that was never thrown.
Anyway, I don't mean to pull you back in just when you were trying to move on.
Happy trails.
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