[Platt] Pirsig spelled out the differences between the levels and their lack of relationship to one another to my satisfaction if not to yours:
[Ron] It is spelled out to my satisfaction although I have read other opinions here to the contrary. [Platt] "What the evolutionary structure of the Metaphysics of Quality shows is that there is not just one moral system. There are many. In the Metaphysics of Quality there's the morality called the "laws of nature," by which inorganic patterns triumph over chaos; there is a morality called the Law of the jungle" where biology triumphs over the inorganic forces of starvation and death; there's a morality where social patterns triumph over biology, "the law"; and there is an intellectual morality, which is still struggling in its attempts to control society. Each of these sets of moral codes is no more related to the other than novels are to flip-flops. (Lila, 13) The key for me is Pirisg's claim that each level is a moral system. That, I submit, is an astonishing claim, especially in this day and age when morals are declared to be exclusively the province of man and are thus arbitrary. [Ron] Platt, I think people get hung up on the word "moral" just as they do with "wrong". Admittedly, myself included. It caused me to think what exactly does moral mean? And what is trying to be stated by choosing that word and words like "triumph over" evoking preconceptual ideals of SOM. As you desribe it, it is an astonishing claim given how we formally defined moral but I feel Pirsig is also redefining the term to mean much more and asking us to drop the preconception Those terms formally meant in lieu of a broader more accurate picture. Pirsig states that these moral codes do not relate to one another, I beg to differ. Drought has infuenced many a social moral code. Like wise social moral code is a factor in biological moral codes, pollution comes to mind or mass extinction. Thanks, 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/ 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/
