dmb said:
And then there is that bit in the MOQ where the laws of causality are replaced
by patterns of preference. Causal relations is a useful idea, but it's just
that: an idea. But we can just as well conceptualize the same experience and
the same laboratory data in terms of preferences.
Andre supplied a page number for that bit:
.... Pirsig suggested to 'strike 'cause' from the language and substitute
'value' [then] you are not only replacing an empirically meaningless term with
a meaningful one; you are using a term that is more appropriate to actual
observation'. (LILA, p. 107)
dmb says:
Thanks, Andre, I was looking for that passage. (It's on page 104 in my
edition.) Here's the full paragraph:
"The only difference between causation and value is that the word 'cause'
implies absolute certainty whereas the implied meaning of 'value' is one of
preference. In classical science it was supposed that the world always works in
terms of absolute certainty and that 'cause' is the more appropriate word to
describe it. But in modern quantum physics all that is changed. Particles
'prefer' to do what they do. An individual particle is not absolutely committed
to one predictable behavior. What appears to be an absolute cause is just a
very consistent pattern of preferences. Therefore, when you strike 'cause' from
the language and substitute 'value' you are not only replacing an empirically
meaningless term with a meaningful one; you are using a term that is more
appropriate to actual observation."
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