Dear Rick, You asked: Does Pirsig adequately support his notion that we have a 'sense of value' analogous to the five traditional senses?
You quoted Pirsig as writing (in his SODV paper): 'The Metaphysics of Quality follows the empirical tradition here in saying that the senses are the starting point of reality, but -- all importantly -- it includes a sense of value. Values are phenomena. To ignore them is to misread the world. It says this sense of value, of liking or disliking, is a primary sense that is a kind of gatekeeper for everything else an infant learns.' Couldn't this quote be read as implying that the 'sense of value' is not analogous to the five traditional senses, but 'primary', kind of summarizing or abstracted from them? The 'gatekeeper' metaphor might suggest that the 'sense of value' has a separate and different role from other senses that provide 'imput' for interpretation by the 'sense of value'. I wouldn't take the metaphor too literally however. I don't think this 'sense of value' is really separate from the five senses (and I don't interpret Pirsig as stating that it is). It's merely an analytical tool for describing how these five senses are working: through them we only experience what has value. With friendly greetings, Wim MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_focus/ MF Queries - [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from moq_focus follow the instructions at: http://www.moq.org/mf/subscribe.html
