[MD] Metaphysics

[Steven Peterson]

Hi Andre, Bo, Matt, All,

On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 11:15 PM, Andre Broersen <andrebroersen at gmail.com> wrote:
> >From Matt:
> Steve said to Mati about Bo's understanding the MoQ:
> You suppose that metaphysics is a fundamental
> intellectual pattern that all other intellectual patterns
> depend upon. I don't see it that way. I suppose that
> "simply thinking" (intellect) must have preceded "thinking
> about thinking" (metaphysics).
>
> Andre:
> Agree with Steve here, as Pirsig says...anyone living in an ordered
> universe cannot escape metaphysics. I think the key word here is
> 'ordered'.

Steve:
I think that this "one cannot escape metaphysics" line may actually be
the strongest argument for Bo's interpretation of Pirsig's use of
metaphysics, but I don't think it is the best representation of
Pirsig's view on the matter.

Pirsig in Lila:
"Metaphysics is what Aristotle called the First Philosophy.  It's a
collection of the most general statements of a hierarchical structure
of thought.  On one of his slips he had copied a definition of it as
"that part of philosophy which deals with the nature and structure of
reality." It asks such questions as, "Are the objects we perceive real
or illusory? Does the external world exist apart from our
consciousness of it?  Is reality ultimately reducible to a single
underlying substance?  If so, is it essentially spiritual or material?
 Is the universe intelligible and orderly or incomprehensible and
chaotic?"
You might think from this primary status of metaphysics that everyone
would take its existence and value for granted, but this is definitely
not so. Even though it has been a central part of philosophy since
Ancient Greek times it is not a universally approved field of
knowledge."

Steve:
As you can see from the above (and Bo should well note), Pirsig's use
of the term metaphysics is different from Bo's. For Bo, a metaphysics
is something like a worldview. When he puts the point more strongly Bo
even says that metaphysics is reality, but for Pirsig, metaphysics is
just one part of philosophy. It is the practice one is engaged in when
studying the underlying of structure of thought. It is not the
intellectual level itself. It is not universal. It is just one sort of
intellectual activity. His description above seems to contradict his
claim that metaphysics is inescapable. One need not get into this "is
reality real or illusory" business at all.

Pirsig also goes on to state the mystic's objection to the whole
practice of metaphysics: "Metaphysics is not reality.  Metaphysics is
names about reality.  Metaphysics is a restaurant where they give you
a thirty-thousand page menu and no food." He talks about metaphysics
as a degenerate activity that takes one out of the mystical reality.
So there is this tension: on the one hand he says one cannot escape
metaphysics and on the other that metaphysics is an escape from
reality, but we also cannot escape from reality if reality is Quality.
All this makes me think that there is a sense of irony about Pirsig's
use of the term metaphysics that Bo is taking the wrong bits
literally.

What do you think?

Best,
Steve