[MD] Platt's Proverbs On Beauty

[Matt Kundert]

Well, wait a second--what I've always taken Platt to be 
enunciating is the very real sense in Pirsig of what the mystic 
traditions articulate most explicitly: that language points 
away from reality (e.g., the menu analogy).  If we bear 
that one in mind, and read Platt, then I don't think it's a 
very far jump to read "intellect" as "language" and 
"beauty" as "reality/Quality."

Platt's thesis has long been something like "beauty is reality," 
based on an extension of the Quality thesis.  And with the 
idea of "Dynamic Quality [better reality--i.e. more beautiful] 
is the pre-intellectual cutting edge of reality," I think we 
can begin to see much better how Platt stands on Pirsig's 
shoulders.

I think Steve's suspicion is right.  I think Arlo's 
counter-evidence is also right, but I think this is a conflict 
within Pirsig.

Matt

> Date: Mon, 4 Jan 2010 13:15:30 -0500
> From: peterson.steve at gmail.com
> To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
> Subject: Re: [MD] Platt's Proverbs On Beauty
> 
> Hi Arlo,m
> 
> Thanks, that makes sense.
> 
> Steve
> 
> On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 1:13 PM, Arlo Bensinger <ajb102 at psu.edu> wrote:
> > [Steve]
> > I was thinking the same thing when I read Platt's post, but I wonder if
> > Platt's take on intellect polluting beauty is consistent with some of
> > Pirsig's writings nevertheless.
> >
> > [Arlo]
> > Only if Platt had said "S/O Intellect is blind to 'beauty'". If you go back
> > to ZMM, I'm sure you can even stretch that complaint to include "pollute",
> > but only with the S/O qualifier (pun intended). But "intellect"
> > in-and-of-itself? Nope. Intellect is Pirsig's highest order of static value.
> > I doubt Pirsig would ever say that "calculus" or "quantum physics" pollutes
> > beauty, indeed he'd probably say these, like symphonies, can be very
> > beautiful indeed. In fact, it was "intellect" in ZMM that Pirsig was trying
> > to show  has been blinded by S/O perspectives, but that once those are
> > removed, intellect (the assembly of rotisseries) can and SHOULD be an art
> > form of the highest order.
 		 	   		  
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