[MD] MD Two Theses in the MOQ

[ian glendinning]

Aha -  Mike,

I was being ironic recalling that aphosrism "to name it is to kill it".
My next sentence said - but that is no reason not to discuss it.

Aphorisms almost always come in opposing pairs - "a rose by any other
name" would do here - Scott's contradictory identity.

Language - don't you just love it :-)
Ian

On 12/18/05, Michael Hamilton <thethemichael at gmail.com> wrote:
> Ian,
>
> Thinking about it, I think it was specifically your "to name it is to
> kill it" that made me bristle. If you'd said "to define it is to kill
> it", then fine. But to name something is to give it life, not to kill
> it. Yes, defining Quality would kill it. But imagine: what kind of a
> life would Quality have if Pirsig had never named it? It would just be
> a vague notion held by Pirsig and nobody else (although I'm not sure
> if it could even be notion...can you have a notion of something that
> isn't signified? this twists me up just thinking about it). You might
> say that it would still have life because it has so many other names:
> the Tao, the One etc. But this only shows how something needs to have
> a name.
>
> By writing about it, Pirsig breathed life into Quality. Language is
> our friend, not something to be suspicious of.
>
> Regards,
> Mike
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