Quoting Arlo Bensinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > [Platt] > Seems to me Pirsig is implying that some people are more moral than others. > > [Arlo] > Pirsig is saying the activity of fighting social repression of > intellect is "more moral" than the activity of fighting social > repression of biology.
I don't think that's what he's saying at all. I think he's saying a Galileo is more moral than a common criminal. The moral standing of individuals is further explained as Pirsig writes: "Intellectuals must find biological behavior, no matter what its ethnic connection, and limit or destroy destructive biological patterns with complete moral ruthlessness., the way a doctor destroys germs, before those biological patterns destroy civilization itself." (Lila, 24) > That is, simply claiming some biological activity "will destroy > society" is not moral justification for using force to forbid it. > After all, those "liberal do-gooders" could claim that soda > consumption threatens society. Would that be provocation enough to ban it? I don't think the biological activity of eating is what Pirsig had in mind in the quote above. > But your point also hinges on criminality. Pirsig is clear in his > support of preserving the life of the criminal. I would imagine if it > is moral for a society to provide for the health of its incarcerated, > its moral for it to provide for the health of its poor. He would preserve the life of the criminal if the criminal does not present a threat to society. Keep that in mind. ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ 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/
