Greetings,
Kev, I am not a positivist as is clear from my posting and I can't see that your
critique applies to
what I have written. I suspect we shall have to agree to disagree here as the argument
has been
batted back and forth a couple of times to no avail. Please be aware that I am not
judging your
position in terms of my own beliefs but in terms of what I think the MoQ claims. You
may be right
that you are correctly interpreting and extending the MoQ, I merely hope that you
aren't because the
corollary for me is that I'm wasting my time. Pure mysticism is a position I have
rejected (as is
pure positivism) and I don't have the slightest interest in revisiting old and
discredited (by many,
not merely the MoQ) territory - life is too short.
To conclude my point. You keep reiterating that Pirsig admits that writing metaphysics
is a form of
degeneracy. He does nothing of the sort. He writes that, "in the strictest mystic
sense, (it is) a
degenerate activity." But of course Pirsig is not a strict mystic so it isn't
degenerate. In a book
where mystical objections and positivist objections to the MoQ are answered I can't
see why you
think that taking the position of a mystic equates to agreeing with the MoQ. If Pirsig
sees the MOQ
as mysticism then why does he measure it against mysticism? It is not possible to
compare something
to itself. The sooner we drop this simplistic positivism v mysticism charade the
better.
Finally, the relative level of mysticism and reason we will never agree on either. I
dislike this
hierarchy anyway so am not bothered much, but to me it is clear that you are confusing
proximity to
DQ with static evolution. To you I am seemingly rejecting the more 'moral' level. Such
is life.
As I say, not much hope of agreement here, but diversity makes life interesting.
Struan
P.S. Cheers Roger. Good to see you happy to point out contradictions and refreshing to
read your new
angles each time they come along. Bit worried when you went all mystical though -
thought it was an
impostor. :-)
------------------------------------------
Struan Hellier
< mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"All our best activities involve desires which are disciplined and
purified in the process."
(Iris Murdoch)
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