[MD] The Quality/MOQ meta-metaphysics

[david buchanan]

Marsha said:
I find both Bo and Platt exhibit great respect for Mr. Pirsig's intellectual capacity and achievement.

Andre replied:
By calling the things he said 'nonsense'? By suggesting that the Phaedrus of LILA had 'lost nerve'? By dismissing most of LC annotations as 'confusing' and pandering to SOM 'pressure'?
Somewhere in ZMM, after they have come down from the mountain, Chris tells his Dad; You're not very brave, are you? To which his Dad replies, that may be so but you'll be surprised how smart I am. I think Bodvar and Platt underestimate the smartness of the MOQ and all Mr. Pirsig has said about it.

dmb says:
I agree with Andre, as usual. I also think Marsha never gives him a fair hearing even though she would really benefit from listening to him. Anyway, one of the most outrageous features of Bo's position is that Pirsig was not smart enough to be consistent or coherent about his own work.
My experience tells me quite the opposite. Pirsig just keeps getting smarter as I discover more and more about the world of philosophy. I can appreciate his accomplishment more than ever and I expect that'll continue for a while. 
Not that a person has to go back to school literally, but I just don't see Bo or Platt branching out or adding new ideas in any way. One might even say they're stuck in a pretty narrow view. Philosophers sometimes express contempt for learning and academia but these guys are just willfully provincial and myopic. 


Marsha said:
You are insisting on one truth when RMP has clearly stated that the MoQ supports multiple truths,

Andre replied:
Yes, about static quality but not about the MOQ itself...Mr. Pirsig has clearly indicated some limits to how to interpret the MOQ. He has made this clear especially in the Annotations. He has said openly that Platt's and Bodvar's interpretation 'undermines' the MOQ. ...  


dmb says:

Exactly. And this is what freaks me out about Bo's English speaking defenders, like Platt and Marsha. Pirsig's comments are perfectly clear and yet they don't see the obvious. Pirsig's disagreement is plainly stated. In that statement he expresses his concern about the MOQ being undermined by that particular interpretation. And of course there are lots of possible ways to undermine the MOQ with a bad interpretation. Just because there can be more than one truth does not mean that every damn thing is true. Being wrong is just part of life. Happens to me every day. But so what?




 		 	   		  
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