[MD] Intellectual activity

[Platt Holden]

Ian:

Good to hear from you after a long absence.

> [Platt said to Alice] Of course, one wonders if the claim that truth is
> provisional is also provisional.
> 
> [and Arlo responded]
> Joyous is the "fact" that at the core of all attempts to symbolically
> code "reality" is paradox and recursion.
> 
> I say, it can be great fun arguing with Platt, who is skilled in using
> rhetoric to ridicule those who disagree with him :-)

Thanks. I'm glad you judge my writing to be effective. :-)

> I agree 100% when Arlo says "reality is paradox and recursion"
> And I add "real-life is therefore pragmatic"

If reality is paradox and recursion, what is metaphysics about? I 
gather if what you say is true, Pirsig's MOQ is just another load of 
symbolic bull because it's neither paradoxical nor recursive but, given 
its premises, downright logical.

As for life being pragmatic, I wonder what you have to say about 
Pirsig's view of pragmatism:

 "The Holocaust produced a satisfaction among Nazis. That was quality 
for them. They considered it to be practical." (Lila, 29)  

Hmmm --"real-life is therefore pragmatic?" The Holocaust was real, so 
maybe you're right. Likewise, Communists considered their gulags to be  
practical.    

So in the end, is pragmatism all there is?

Platt