[MD] Platt's Individual Level

[Ham Priday]

Platt --

I said:
> I'm committed to Rand's concept that knowledge, intellect, and ideas are
> proprietary to individual cognizance.  They originate with the individual,
> are created by the individual, and are acted upon by the individual.  The
> individual consciousness is the primary mediator and choicemaker of
> empirical existence.  I would have expected you to agree.

You replied:
> I do. The free force of life (Pirsig's idea) is an energy, hardly a
"collective."
> And you put your finger on it --"choicemaker for empirical existence,"
i.e.,
> evaluator. You cannot divorce values from empiricism any more than you
> can divorce the individual from consciousness.

But the "force of life", if that's how you and Pirsig want to refer to
biological evolution, is not free.  It is subject to the laws and principles
of natural selection, genetic mutation, cell morphogenesis, acclimatization,
molecular chemistry, physiological metabolism, and a host of ecological and
nutritional factors.  This is why animals depend on instinctual mechanisms
for their survival.  Only man is free to choose options beyond these fixed
behavior patterns, based on his individual values.

Your ingenuous use of the phrase "tap into DQ" to describe human creativity
still bothers me.  I realize that you believe genetic or instinctive
behavior is really cells and organisms seeking higher value, despite the
fact that they are not conscious of value.  But that's only an
anthropomorphic interpretation of behavior.  Surely plants and animals don't
change their life-styles or behavior patterns by appreciating values or
applying individual creativity; such changes occur over many centuries as a
result of biological mutations, climatic conditions, or evolutionary factors
peculiar to their species.  In a sense, unlike man, the organic world of
plants and animals does function as a "collective".  Man is unique among the
species in that he is the measure of all values and the decision-maker of
his world.  I find that concept, which is most significant for me,
conspicuous by its absence in Pirsig's writings.

Regards,
Ham