Marsha Quotes: "I also have a concern of my own. This is the concern that philosophers, instead of coming to grips with the philosophy at hand, sometimes dismiss it by saying, “Oh he is saying the same as someone else,” or “someone else has said it much better.” This is the latter half of the well known conservative argument that some new idea is (a) no good because it hasn't been heard it before or (b) it is no good because it has been heard before. If, as has been noted by R.C. Zaehner, once the Oxford University Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics, I am saying the same thing as Aristotle; and if, as has been noted in the Harvard Educational Review, I am saying the same thing as William James; and if as has been noted now that I may be saying the same thing as Spinoza: then why has no one ever noticed that Aristotle and Spinoza and William James are all saying the same thing?"
Ron comments: The key phrase is: " I am saying the same thing as Aristotle; and if, as has been noted in the Harvard Educational Review, I am saying the same thing as William James; and if as has been noted now that I may be saying the same thing as Spinoza: then why has no one ever noticed that Aristotle and Spinoza and William James are all saying the same thing?" -Pirsig Lila That question is a sound observation, ignoring it's rhetorical use to dismiss MoQ out of hand and without proper scrutiny, Why hasn't any one noticed that they are all saying similar things? Why arent philosophers coming to grips with the philosophy at hand? I think it comes down to criticle thinking skills again. Pirsig is not claiming complete originality, MoQ was not formed in a vacuum as the poster would contend and seek to cut any relation to Bobs work and any one elses. Bob is lamenting the fact that no one is giving MoQ a fair critique and testing it philosophically. Philosophers arent doing philosophy, they are not rejecting it on philosophic grounds they reject it on philosophologic grounds. Criticle thinking skills include sound and careful reading. That means we read quotes in their context not isolated to support our own agendas. .. .. 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
