[MD] Platt's Individual Level

[Steve Peterson]

Hi Platt,

Platt:
I see no need to distinguish my ideas from your ideas of the MOQ by 
using some sort of gimmick.  As I said, we have different 
interpretations. 
Steve:
I understand. I still need to provide some label other than the MOQ for your philosophy because from my perspective they are not at all the same thing.

> > Steve said:
> > > In Pirsig's philosophy, an insane person is someone with illegal
> > > intellectual patterns. It is not an issue of being dominated by one
> > > level or another, it is a matter of bad intellectual patterns.
> > 
> > Platt:
> > Only bad because society says so. 
> > 
> > Steve:
> > Or bad because you say so. What other standard do you have besides
> > logical consistency, economy of explanation, and agreement with
> > experience?

No. Because society says so. Pirsig: "He saw that the sane always know 
they are good because their culture tells them so. Anyone who tells 
them otherwise is sick, paranoid, and needs further treatment." 

> Platt:
> I disagree with your interpretation of how Pirsig deals with sanity.
> Lila went insane. She had no intellectual patterns to speak of. She fell
> back to biological patterns which in a human being often results in
> helplessness.
> 
> Steve:
> Can you back up your claim that Lila had no intellectual patterns?

Pirsig: "Biologically she's fine, socially she's pretty far down the 
scale, intellectually she's nowhere." 
Steve:
Now you seem to be arguing something different. Are you saying that Lila never participated in intellectual patterns or that when she went insane she dropped to your biological level?

Also, I thought the "intellectually nowhere" issue was settled long ago (in a letter from Pirsig to Pau)l to mean that "as an intellectual, she is nowhere" where intellectual is a social classification rather than to say that she doesn't think at all.
> > Steve:
> > All, things being equal, the more dynamic route is always better. But
> > I don't see how it makes sense to say that an individual is better
> > than the society of which he is a part.

Platt:
> I know you don't see. I blame myself for my lack of communicative 
> ability.

Platt:
Maybe if you read the story of the brujo again, you'd see how an 
individual can be better than the society of which he is a part. 
Steve:
Is this brujo part of your individual level? If so, we should take a close look at what his values are so we can better understand your philosophy.

Regards,
Steve

 		
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