[MD] Essentials for target practice

[Ham Priday]

On Monday, June 28, 2010 3:45 PM, John Carl wrote:


> Well, Ham, if your continued participation hangs in the balance,
> the pressure is ON.
>
> I doubt if my responses to your tenets will be helpful,
> but it might be fun anyway.
>
>> FUNDAMENTAL TENETS OF ESSENTIALISM:
>>
>> 1)  Nothing comes from nothingness.
>
> Demonstrably, there's no such thing as nothing.
>
>> 2)  Nothing creates itself (i.e., brings itself into existence)..
>
> See above.
>
>> 3)  Existence is the appearance of differentiated otherness.
>
> What about the aspects of existence that have no recognizable
> appearance?  If you say that without appearance there is no existence,
> I'm gonna send you back to the empiricism from whence you came.

I presume you mean "aspects" such as quality, dynamics, relations, order, 
design, beauty, morality, desirability, importance, and sensory 
attributions.  These are all psycho-emotional affects of value-sensibility 
projected by the self into otherness.

>> 4)  All appearance--including divisions, relations, and movement--
>> is the affect of an uncreated source.
>
> Appearance is subjective.

In a word, yes.  Appearance is what we're aware of, which is subjective. 
However, neither the appearance nor the subjective awareness of it exists 
independently of a primary source.

>> 5)  The primary difference is the provisional separation of
>> proprietary sensibility from the undivided source.
>
> Provisional upon what?  More subjectivism.

Time, space, finitude, dependence, life/death, being/nothing, contrariety, 
uncertainty.

>> 6)  Life is an individual experience the essence of which is
>> value-sensibility.
>
> Life is certainly bigger than any individual's experience.
> This is a major "duh".

Life is not quantifiable in terms of vastness or size.  All or ANY life is 
an individual experience.  Existence for any individual is his/her 
life-experience.

>> 7)  Cognizant awareness, feeling, knowledge, interpretation,
>> intellection, and realization are proprietary to the individual.
>
> Disagree completely.  All those things are relative and arise only in
> intersubjective comparison.

"Relative", yes, since all awareness is dependent on otherness. 
"Intersubjective", no.
(Possibly you meant to say "interrelational.")
>
>> 8)  Experience is the objective representation of value realized.
>
> See above.
>
>> 9)  Unrealized value does not exist.
>
> Hey!  I think I agree with this one.
>
>> 10)  Man is a "free agent" in that he has the innate capacity
>> to act in accordance with his proprietary value orientation.
>
> And this one.  We're on a roll now.  Except for that troublesome part 
> about
>> value being proprietary.
>
>> 11)  All truth is relative.  Access to "absolute truth" is
>> inimical to individual freedom.
>
> Truth is an idealized absolute.  An individual's apprehension of truth
> is relative.

Essentially, isn't that what I'm saying?
>
>> 12)  Wisdom is not factual knowledge but the ability
>> to realize the value of experience.
>
> Ok, I'll go along with that one, just to end on a happy and logically
> positive note.
>
> Ya logical positivist you.

You really think so?  I doubt that a logical positivist would agree with 
more than one or two of these tenets.  (I'm about to test that by showing 
them to a retired science professor whom I've known since high school.  I'll 
let you know how he responds.)

A possible 11 out of 12 (discounting required clarifications) is a very 
positive essentialist position, John.  I don't expect to elicit anything 
close to that from the ranking Pirsigians here.  I'm pleased, of course, 
although not really surprised, based upon your posts over the past year.

I do appreciate your response, John.  We need to have more discussions.

Essentially yours,
Ham