Hi David B, Jonathan, Jon, Gina and Everyone:
I suppose it was to be expected that the Christmas season would encourage
some contributors to emphasize �caring� as the top moral principle although
that lofty position is hardly supported by the Metaphysics of Quality.
In fact, the MoQ firmly attaches the Judeo-Christian ideals of caring, love
they neighbor, do unto others, etc. to the social level. Further, these ideals
have been around for at least 2000 years, placing them in the static quality
category. I�m reminded of the following Pirsig quote:
�Static morality is full of heroes and villains, loves and hatreds, carrots and
sticks. Its values don't change by themselves. Unless they are altered by
Dynamic Quality they say the same thing year after year. Sometimes they
say it more loudly, sometimes more softly, but the message is always the
same.� (Lila, Chap. 9)
By MoQ standards the message of �caring� is as fine an example of static
morality as you�re likely to find. Nor has caring always been the beacon of
hope for humanity that some attribute to it. After all, caring for the souls of
nonbelievers was the excuse for the tortures of the Inquisition, and caring for
the purity of the human race was the rationale for Nazi genocide. Caring can
cut many ways. (The Russians currently care a lot about not losing
Chechnya in the name of preserving the Russian �union.�)
I don�t see where Pirsig gives caring any more importance than other values
that maintain the social order. In the MoQ, the intellect is morally above
social quality. (Pirsig would approve the choosing of Albert Einstein as
Person of the Century over Mother Theresa.)
Compassion, sensitivity, loving-kindness -- these are not words in the
vocabulary of the MoQ. It seems to me that if they were vital in the big MoQ
scheme of things, Pirsig would have used them a lot more often.
Platt
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