Hi Folks
A couple of things that need to be cleared up in relation to free will
as I see it:
1) In a reality in which everything is a moral activity (MoQ) any act is
a moral act - so we can't help but act morally according to the MoQ. The
argument which requires free will in order to act morally would appear
to be irrelevant - we can't help but act morally regardless of the
existence of free will.
"The Metaphysics of Quality says that if moral judgements are
essentially assertions of value and if value is the fundamental
ground-stuff of the world, then moral judgements are the fundamental
ground-stuff of the world......
.....So what Phædrus was saying was that not just life, but everything,
is an ethical activity. It is nothing else. When inorganic patterns of
reality create life the Metaphysics of Quality postulates that they’ve
done so because it’s “better” and that this definition of
“betterness”—this beginning response to Dynamic Quality—is an elementary
unit of ethics upon which all right and wrong can be based."
How does throwing free will into the mix make any difference to inherent
moral behaviour as a pre-requisite of existence? Or is the MoQ wrong
when it states that existence is a moral order?
2) There seems to have been a tendency recently to equate free will with
DQ. Equating (or more accurately conflating) the two in this way is a
mistake - in my opinion - as it tends to
intellectualise/compartmentalise DQ. Which is always a mistake.
3) The degree to which we are free to act - i.e. have the greatest
choice - increases as we move up the static value hierarchy but still
doesn't appear to be completely free. Statically, we can only choose
between those patterns that already exist - i.e. we can have a
PRE-ference for a PRE-existing static pattern. If we choose not to
prefer an existing pattern and instead opt for a new pattern of our own
creation then we are following DQ. Opting for another's creation is
certainly not following DQ.
I think this ties in with what Pirsig says re:SQ/DQ and behaviour:
"In the Metaphysics of Quality this dilemma doesn’t come up. To the
extent that one’s behavior is controlled by static patterns of quality
it is without choice. But to the extent that one follows Dynamic
Quality, which is undefinable, one’s behavior is free."
I think we need to come up with a better way of expressing the idea of
free will cos at the moment it just doesn't seem to be getting too far.
Horse
--
"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines
or dates by which bills must be paid."
— Frank Zappa
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