Well said Platt. One of my favorite passages. I saw a bumper sticker yesterday at the river, which I liked a lot and have been telling to my wife lately because it tickles me most pithily:
More wag, less bark. John Pulling Leg On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 8:52 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > All: > > Whether the MOQ is an intellectual pattern or a metaphysics or something > else > seems to me to be besides the point. I simply call it a world view and > believe > the better discussion is whether or not the MOQ is superior to other world > views. IMO the following passage from Lila near the end of the book > illustrates > the meaning of the MOQ far better than any intellectual definition, > description > or analysis: > > "He remembered it had been spring then, which is a wonderful time in > Montana, > and the breeze blowing down from the pine trees carried a fresh smell of > melting snow and thawing earth, and they were all walking down the road, > four > abreast, when one of those raggedy nondescript dogs that call Indian > reservations home came onto the road and walked pleasantly in front of > them. > They followed the dog silently for a while. Then LaVerne asked John, "What > kind > of dog is that?" > > "John thought about it and said, "That's a good dog." > > A bit later, Pirsig explains the significance of John's answer: > > "LaVerne had been asking the question within an Aristotelian framework. She > wanted to know what genetic, substantive pigeonhole of canine > classification > this object walking before them could be placed in. But John Wooden Leg > never > understood the question. That's what made it so funny. He wasn't joking > when he > said, "That's a good dog." He probably thought she was worried the dog > might > bite her.The whole idea of a dog as a member of a hierarchical structure of > intellectual categories known generically as "objects" was outside his > traditional cultural viewpoint. > > "What was significant, Phaedrus realized, was that John had distinguished > the > dog according to its Quality, rather than according to its substance. That > indicated he considered Quality more important." (Lila, 32) > > The "Aristotelian framework" is what I consider the intellectual level to > be, > dominated by S/O patterns. By contrast, John Wooden Leg experiences > within a moral framework dominated by value patterns. Of the two paintings > in > the gallery of "truth," I find John's of higher quality. > > Those whose livelihood depends on definition, description and analysis will > no > doubt prefer other paintings. Yet even they must admit that their choices > are > guided by values. > > Speaking of dogs, there's another phrase expressing the negative side of a > value framework, namely "That dog won't hunt." For me the words "That's a > good > dog" and "That dog won't hunt" pretty well sums up reality as experienced > through the framework of the MOQ. > > But, I could be wrong. > > 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/md/archives.html > 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
