[MD] Intellectual activity

[Scott Roberts]

Hi Steve, and welcome

[Scott said]:
So, then, what are we doing when we are reading LILA? Well, what I would say
that Pirsig was doing in writing LILA is proposing *changes* to our
vocabulary. So in reading it, we are being asked if we go along with the
changes being made. He is proposing that we change the meaning of such words
as 'substance', 'cause', 'empirical', 'karma'. He is also creating new
symbols, notably, "Metaphysics of Quality", "Dynamic Quality" and "Static
Quality". So intellectual activity is not just the collection and
manipulation of symbols, it is also the creation and modification of
symbols. That is the difference between reading LILA and reading a romance
novel, and the difference between social use of language and intellectual
use of language. At the intellectual level we are engaged in modifying our
vocabularies, not just using them.

Stave said:
Bloom's Taxonomy, I think, provides an accurate description of this
phenomenon.  Starting with the most basic: Knowledge, Comprehension,
Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.  So when we are
reading LILA we are analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating.  When one
reads a romance novel, she is reading mainly for knowledge and
comprehension, or because the book is popular (popular being a social
term).

Does this work?

Scott:
I'm not familiar with Bloom's Taxonomy, but these words look useful. I think 
I would have said that writing LILA uses analysis and synthesis, and 
application, while reading it is evaluation. MD is partly intended as 
further application and evaluation. All of which requires previously 
garnered knowledge and comprehension. I would assume most people read 
romance novels as a drug (like most people watch TV, or any of a multitude 
of ways of being entertained) and wouldn't say they are reading for 
knowledge or comprehension. Of course, knowledge gets picked up along the 
way, but that's usually not the reason for reading novels. Rather, I'd say 
that in reading novels, or watching TV, one accumulates the particulars 
(character types, for example) which then go into analysis and synthesis. 
But unless one is a literary critic, or something, this is more likely to be 
an unconscious or semi-conscious, process. That is, reading novels and 
watching TV for entertainment contributes more to the social level than to 
the intellectual level. Changing the meaning of words on the intellectual 
level is a deliberate process, while on the social level it happens 
gradually and non-deliberately.

- Scott