[Marsha] I have gone so far as to state that Quality is amoral. Both Platt and Arlo immediately started throwing quotes at me. I presented the water analogy: If everything is water, and there is nothing that is not water, then there is no meaning to water, for there is no way of distinguishing a duality or difference between water and nonwater. It seems to me, if there were a morality to the MoQ, it would reside in the 3rd and 4th levels. Do you agree, or not?
[Krimel] Yes, with the provision that I do not see much value in the distinction between the 3rd and 4th level. The term noosphere has been mentioned a couple of times recently. It is another term shamelessly abused by Wilber but it traces to a Russian philosopher Vernadsky and was used by Teilhard de Chardin. It included Pirsig's version of the intellectual and social levels and avoids the messy clean-up. It is the sphere of human thought. But yes, I do not see much sense in talking about physical processes in terms of morality or preference. I think probabilistic language is clearer and more precise. I do not think there is a purpose or a drive toward betterness in the evolution of life. What is frequently cited as such seems more appropriately described in terms of the struggle for solar radiation to dissipate into space. I have quoted Case on this a couple of times so I won't bother again but here is his simplest statement on the subject: http://ispots.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=1 At the biological level it is much easier to project value terminology onto living things and most philosophers have not attempted to push the point that animals are automatons. I suspect they have internal memories and models and emotional states similar to ours. But certainly not formalized systems of what they ought and ought not to do. 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/
