dmb, I have never said any old thing is right.
Marsh On Sep 21, 2010, at 9:49 AM, david buchanan wrote: > > Andre quoted Pirsig: >> 'Poincare then hyposthesized that this selection is made by what he called >> the 'subliminal self', >> an entity that corresponds exactly with what Phaedrus called >> pre-intellectual awareness. >> The subliminal self, Poincarre said,looks at a large number of solutions to >> a problem, but only the >> INTERESTING ones break into the domain of consciousness. Mathematical >> solutions are selected by the >> subliminal self on the basis of 'mathematical beauty', of the harmony of >> numbers and forms, of >> geometric elegance. 'This is a true esthetic feeling which all >> mathematicians know',Poincare said... >> It is this harmony, this beauty that is at the center of it all'. >> >> Poincare made it clear that he was not speaking of romantic beauty, the >> beauty of appearances which >> strike the senses. He meant classic beauty, which comes from the harmonious >> order of the parts, AND >> WHICH A PURE INTELLIGENCE CAN GRASP, which gives structure to romantic >> beauty and without which life >> would be only vague and fleeting...'. My emphasis.(ZMM, p261) > > > > dmb says: > > This quote couldn't be more relevant. This felt beauty and harmony is what > guides the formation of new scientific hypotheses. Pirsig says essentially > the same thing at the end of chapter 29 of Lila, where Pirsig says, "Dynamic > value is an integral part of science. It is the cutting edge of science > itself." > > > These quotes from ZAMM about Poincare are preceded by the notion of multiple > truths. (This is another area where Marsha badly misunderstands the basic > idea.) In the first quarter of the 19th century, he explains, Bolyai and > Lobachevski "established irrefutably that a proof of Euclid's fifth postulate > is impossible". > > "Mathematic, the cornerstone of scientific certainty, was suddenly uncertain. > We now had TWO contradictory visions of unshakable scientific truth, true for > all men of all ages, regardless of the individual preferences. This was the > basis of the profound crisis that shattered the scientific complacency of the > Gilded Age. HOW DO WE KNOW WHICH ONE OF THESE GEOMETRIES IS RIGHT? ...And of > course once that door was opened one could hardly expect the number of > contradictory systems of unshakable scientific truth to be limited to two. A > German named Riemann appeared with another unshakable system of geometry > which throws overboard not only Euclid's postulate, but also the first > axiom..." > > > The idea that there can be three different kinds of internally consistent and > scientifically valid geometries is parallel to the Art Gallery analogy in > chapter ten of Lila, where SOM and the MOQ are compared to two equally valid > maps, one with rectangular coordinates and one with polar coordinates. So > here Pirsig is giving us examples of multiple truths in geometry, geography > and metaphysics. In all these cases, the truth isn't just our own personal > truth. It's not true just because we want it to be true and of course there > are lots and lots of ways to be wrong about geometry, geography and > metaphysics. These various systems aren't true in the sense of being > objectively true, they are pragmatically true. They work. They are convenient > and useful to anyone capable of grasping their meaning and putting them to > work. Unlike SOM, the MOQ does not insist on a single, exclusive truth. But > that certainly doesn't mean there is no such thing as laborious, confusing, > or inconclusive id > ea. That doesn't mean any old thing is right. It has to make sense. It has to > work. It has to fit the context, agree with experience and function in future > experience. > > > > > 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
