Hi Platt -- > Do I detect a possible movement in the direction of accepting > the MOQ? By pursuing the value connection in explaining the > reason why there is something rather than nothing -- the > philosopher's Gordian Knot -- you appear on the brink of a > breakthrough.
No breakthrough in my thinking, Platt. Just the morale booster that comes from following someone else's train of thought and envisioning the possibilities. Actually, I've always accepted Pirsig's premise that Value is the primary empirical (i.e., sensed) reality, and that it is sensed pre-intellectually. But this is only part of the story, as I've said before. If everything that exists is the effect of a cause, existence and its perceived value must have a cause, unless we assume that their being is a necessary truth. While he doesn't explicitly say so, Pirsig in effect makes Quality a necessary truth, his non-contingent reality. I cannot accept Quality or Value as the primary, independent source. For me the appearance of both being and value requires a primary cause which is a necessary truth. Simply stated, there is a reason for existence that is not to be found in its experience. As a kid I grew up asking why? about everything I experienced, until I learned that most of the things I was questioning were not important enough to warrant the complicated reasons I was offered. But I've always been intrigued by Heidegger's question, also asked by Leibniz: "Why is there something rather than nothing?" Surely this is the most fundamental of all questions -- certainly more significant for mankind than "Is there a God?" for example. Indeed, it's the very starting point for metaphysics. Yet, because so few want to go there, neither Science nor Philosophy has seriously addressed it. When it comes to reality, scientists are trained to investigate 'what' it is and 'how' it works, while philosophers try to divine the truths that can be learned from it. At some undefined level between these two intellectual pursuits is a small voice asking 'why?' And we are introduced to reason. > Be that as it may, I think many of us will be interested in > how your dialog with Witherall transpires. I know I will be. I shall be happy to oblige, Platt. Meantime, I'm working on getting a bio from the chap in time for next week's Values column. He tells me he's just moved, and "...due to some stupidity the electricity hasn't been connected, and I don't have internet access at home anyway." It looks like his introduction to IT is destined to be as problematic as his career in philosophy ;-). Cheers and regards, Ham 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.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
