Quoting Ron Kulp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > [Platt] > > I interpret Pirsig's inorganic value patterns as ethical, not numerical. > > > "So what Phaedrus was saying was that not just life, but everything, is > an ETHICAL activity. It is nothing else. When inorganic patterns of > reality create life the Metaphysics of Quality postulates that they've > done so because it's "better" and that this definition of > "betterness"-this beginning response to Dynamic Quality- s an elementary > unit of ethics upon which all right and wrong can be based. > > "When this understanding first broke through in Phaedrus's mind, that > ethics and science had suddenly been integrated into a single system, he > became so manic he couldn't think of anything else for days. The only > time he had been more manic about an abstract idea was when he had first > hit upon the idea of undefined Quality itself." (Lila, 12--emphasis > added). > > I would be interested in other views on this interpretation. > > [Ron] > > Summary description of the MOQ by Robert Pirsig > > "The Metaphysics of Quality, or MOQ, is simply a philosophic answer to > the question of what is Quality, or worth, or merit, or value, or > betterness or any of the other synonyms for good. There are many > possible answers but the one the MOQ gives is that you can understand > Quality best if you don't subordinate it to anything else but instead > subordinate everything else to it. > > It says there are two basic kinds of Quality, an undefined Quality > called Dynamic Quality, and a defined quality called static quality. > Static quality is further divided into four evolutionary divisions: > inorganic, biological, social and intellectual. Our entire understanding > of the world can be organized within this framework. When you do so > things fall into place that were poorly defined before, and new things > appear that were concealed under previous frameworks of understanding. > The MOQ is not intended to deny previous modes of understanding as much > as to expand them into a more inclusive picture of what it's all about."
Thanks Ron. The key phrase IMO is "other synonyms for good." What is good and what is not good is what ethics is all about, right being good, wrong being not good. So the MOQ subordinates everything to Quality, i.e., the Good. And "everything" includes the inorganic as well as all the levels. So I think my interpretation is still valid although if you think otherwise, please comment further. Platt ------------------------------------------------- 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/
