[David] SOM has the worlds academia caught in a metaphysical trap. [Arlo interjects] I wanted to comment on this, because it is both a common sentiment here and one that presents a false distinction.
First, SOM's trap isn't an affliction suffered only by academics, it is a lens that has trapped (in its largest sense) the populations of the West. SOM has the Western world caught in a metaphysical trap, would be the more accurate starting point. The next step is to look for sub-populations, or subcultures, within the West where the effects of SOM's lens are the most entrenched. Here my observations point to the myriad communities of the Academy to be by-and-large LESS dominated by S/O thinking than most "non-academic populations". Although we typically see the "physical sciences" most dominated by S/O thinking, even here their is hope (certainly most visible at the higher ends of graduate study) that mainstream S/O thinking is- at least- being challenged. In philosophy and the liberal arts, I think this is even more evident, and many disciplines are moving into fields that do not adhere to "subjectivity" or "objectivity" but alternatives to these lenses. I think one confusion is that everything "non-MOQ" is ipso facto "SOM", and this is simply absurd. Pirsig's MOQ may be the best alternative to SOM but it isn't the only intellectual consideration that is attempting to move away from an S/O lens. Cultural-historical psychology, emergence theories, semiotics, structurationists, even the oft cited scholars of James and Dewey, all these (and others) are at least questioning the primacy of subjects and objects, even if they lack the language of Pirsig's MOQ. This isn't to say that challenges don't exist, or entrenched ideas lack power, but I'd say the effects of the SOM lens are stronger among most non-academic communities, and the ongoing trend towards consumerism noted in ZMM is one example of the ruinous outcome of SOM on the larger populations as a whole. 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
