Adrie quoted Nietzsche: I like this one
"This awakens the idea that, in addition to the leaves, there exists in nature the "leaf": the original model according to which all the leaves were perhaps woven, sketched, measured, colored, curled, and painted—but by incompetent hands, so that no specimen has turned out to be a correct, trustworthy, and faithful likeness of the original model." "The leaf"--- a mother pattern nice proposal. Saturday i will have a look in the library. dmb says: The "mother pattern" here is just like Plato's fixed and eternal Form. Plato's Forms were the original model according to which all the earthly, empirical copies took their shape. He talking about Essences and things-in-themselves and he his mocking that idea. He's saying "no," there is only the unique and individual experience and the concepts we derive from it, that's it. There are no "mother patterns," just the analogies we invent. This is also something he shares with James and Pirsig, I think. > > And - for anyone who missed it - here is the Nietzsche quote we're > > comparing to Pirsig and James: > > > > > > "Every word instantly becomes a concept precisely insofar as it is not > > supposed to serve as a reminder of the unique and entirely individual > > original experience to which it owes its origin; but rather, a word becomes > > a concept insofar as it simultaneously has to fit countless more or less > > similar cases—which means, purely and simply, cases which are never equal > > and thus altogether unequal. Every concept arises from the equation of > > unequal things. Just as it is certain that one leaf is never totally the > > same as another, so it is certain that the concept "leaf" is formed by > > arbitrarily discarding these individual differences and by forgetting the > > distinguishing aspects. This awakens the idea that, in addition to the > > leaves, there exists in nature the "leaf": the original model according to > > which all the leaves were perhaps woven, sketched, measured, colored, > > curled, and painted—but by incompetent hands, so that no specimen has > > turned out to be a correct, trustworthy, and faithful likeness of the > > original model. We call a person "honest," and then we ask "why has he > > behaved so honestly today?" Our usual answer is, "on account of his > > honesty." Honesty! This in turn means that the leaf is the cause of the > > leaves. We know nothing whatsoever about an essential quality called > > "honesty"; but we do know of countless individualized and consequently > > unequal actions which we equate by omitting the aspects in which they are > > unequal and which we now designate as "honest" actions. Finally we > > formulate from them a qualitas occulta which has the name "honesty." We > > obtain the concept, as we do the form, by overlooking what is individual > > and actual; whereas nature is acquainted with no forms and no concepts, and > > likewise with no species, but only with an X which remains inaccessible and > > undefinable for us. For even our contrast between individual and species is > > something anthropomorphic and does not originate in the essence of things; > > although we should not presume to claim that this contrast does not > > correspond to the essence of things: that would of course be a dogmatic > > assertion and, as such, would be just as indemonstrable as its opposite." — > > Friedrich Nietzsche > > > > > > Thanks, > > dmb > > 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 > > > > > > -- > parser > 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
