Hi David, I thought you posed a good philosophical question. I can provide an answer from my perspective. Such would be how I use Quality to interpret existence. This could well be my singular view although I believe it is consistent with Pirsig's.
The phrase "analogy all the way down" is meant to impart an answer as to a source. It is a paradox, or even a koan. It implies that each thing we create is sourced in another creation of ours. In place of "down", we could say "analogy all the way round". This removes the sense of "source". Or, by looking for a source we end up where we started. What this does is remove the need for a "source of all" as is searched through intellectual reasoning. Alternatively, we could say "Quality all the way round", and thus bring it into the fold of MoQ. This does not construe Quality as a thing, but rather as a sentiment. This form of reasoning is implicit in "The Church of Reason". Such a Church is a body of reasoning that stands alone and does not need a firm basis, but simply a belief (yes, belief). A belief, in philosophical lingo, is that from which one interprets. If the belief is something like Quality, one interprets existence using the prism of Quality. When one tries to justify such a belief, it easily falls apart, even if such belief can be fully supported through experience. For, the color of the experience is shaded by belief. Like Pirsig, John Locke claimed that all intellectual was based on experience. Then Kant came along and showed reasoning which denied this. Many gravitated towards Kant's argument and it became a belief. Another belief that many attribute to Pirsig is that the intellectual is based on the social. This places the intellectual within the grounds of communication. Such a premise can also be contested since it takes the intellect to be able to communicate, and we end up with another circle. The need to form a pyramid out of the levels can be somewhat misguided if interpreted in a simplistic way, just like the "food pyramid" can lead to all sorts of strange diets. If one interprets Quality as a pyramid of levels, it becomes less nourishing. This is because such is a Western approach requiring a firm structure and the continual search for the "base" of this pyramid. It transfers the sense of Quality to a purely static framework, as coming from the inorganic. By creating a circle out of it, this paradox will no longer generate a Western request for ultimate source. It is levels all the way round. In conclusion, what this phrase brings for me is a freedom from standard Western (Aristotelian) structural requirements. It brings Quality Awareness from which a metaphysics can be constructed. Regards, and thanks for the question. Mark On Aug 4, 2012, at 4:59 PM, David Harding <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Marsha, > > Marsha wrote: > > "I will say only that I meant that it is ALL 'analogy all the way down' and > out, if you like. Yes, it is probably an overused aphorism, but I still > think it has value." > > Taking into consideration that everything is an analogy - do you think after > accepting this, one should change anything about how they see the world? What > of things like reason and logic? Should these change in light of the fact > that everything is an analogy all the way down? > > Thank-you, > > -David. > 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
