[DMB] Wow. Thanks, Arlo. The paper was easy to find and it's free. I've downloaded and printed it. So cool to see Pirsig's name in an abstract. Looking forward to reading the thing.
[Arlo] Sure thing, I too am always excited to see Pirsig cited in academic papers. This one was especially interesting to me because I had been exposed to Freire's work through my interest in Vygotsky and socio-cultural theory. And while its no secret I find symbiosis between these philosophers, its additionally encouraging to find others have made that connection as well (and in this case as far back as 1980). Another article that came to my attention today is just from last Friday, but I think it touches on everything we've been talking about (although this article lacks Pirsig's vocabulary to frame the problem). http://thefederalist.com/2014/01/17/the-death-of-expertise/ "The death of expertise is a rejection not only of knowledge, but of the ways in which we gain knowledge and learn about things. Fundamentally, it’s a rejection of science and rationality, which are the foundations of Western civilization itself." "Critics might dismiss all this by saying that everyone has a right to participate in the public sphere. That’s true. But every discussion must take place within limits and above a certain baseline of competence. And competence is sorely lacking in the public arena." "This subverts any real hope of a conversation, because it is simply exhausting ... to have to start from the very beginning of every argument and establish the merest baseline of knowledge, and then constantly to have to negotiate the rules of logical argument." "... I like the democratization of knowledge and the wider circle of public participation. That greater participation, however, is endangered by the utterly illogical insistence that every opinion should have equal weight..." "As a result, many academic departments are boutiques, in which the professors are expected to be something like intellectual valets. This produces nothing but a delusion of intellectual adequacy in children who should be instructed, not catered to." [Arlo continues] Yes, I did read your article (for those who may not have seen it, http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/2014/01/20/truth-without-the-capital-t/#more-24507). I think you could make a strong argument that, for Freire as well, education is much more about examining the 'reality goggles' as it is about describing reality through those goggles. The first part of his statement (induction into the logic of the present system) is about just the latter, while his second point (creatively transforming the system) rests on critical evaluation and adjustments to the goggles. You mentioned in closing Pirsig's comments on maps, and this reminded me of a related topic that I was made aware of through my interest in Freire, "counter-mapping". Wikimedia's article is lacking, so you'll find more interesting and well-presented information in the (dreaded) "academic literature" ;-) but the idea shares Pirsig view while adding that the map making itself is not neutral and often includes very specific power-reinforcing elements. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-mapping 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
