[MD] Julian Baggini interview

[Ant McWatt]

Mark Maxwell 1-11-06: Hello Anthony.

Ant McWatt comments:

Hello Ian.  :-)

Mark Maxwell continued:

No wonder i missed the interview on your site. One can easily visit
robertpirsig.org and leave with no idea there ever was an interview with 
Robert
Pirsig in The Philosophy Magazine (TPM).

TPM is a respected philosophical source and i should have thought it to be a
superb advert for the MOQ to be associated with a high profile publication 
as
a measure of the MOQ’s expanding reach. However:

There is no reference to the TPM interview on robertpirsig.org.
There is no link to the full TPM transcript either.
Neither TPM or Baggini are referenced as primary sources in the essay you
edited, which is a bit odd considering your academic training.

Ant McWatt notes:

This is because the MOQ Summary ultimately comes from a number of e-mails 
sent to me by Robert Pirsig.  These e-mails (together with some photographs 
of Pirsig) were then forwarded on by me to Baggini for the material found in 
“The Philosophy Magazine” and its related website.

Mark Maxwell continued:

The full transcript is about three times longer. (Questions give it a flow
and tension between Baggini's position and MOQ responses. This is a rare
event.)  At one point in the full transcript Pirsig acknowledges his 
approval of the
questions and the manner in which they are being asked. If Pirsig approved 
of
the medium i can't understand why it isn't available, whole, or as a  link,
on robertpirsig.org.

Ant McWatt comments:

That approval of Pirsig’s came early on with Baggini’s initial questions.  
However, Pirsig and myself eventually concluded (after the whole interview 
was completed) that the underlying attitude behind many of Baggini’s 
questions wasn’t very positive.  Hence, their absence from robertpirsig.org. 
  As Horse put it to me, the interview reminded him too much of the 
interviews of  Jonathon Ross (a British TV interviewer who tends to be more 
interested in listening to himself) rather than Michael Parkinson (a British 
TV interviewer who tends to be more interested in listening to his guests).  
It’s a pity the interview turned out that way though I did enjoy reading 
many of Pirsig’s responses.

Mark Maxwell noted:

Anyone wishing to see the whole transcript easily and for free is being
denied the opportunity.

Ant McWatt comments:

The Baggini interview is easily found via Google and, I said previously, 
there is nothing else of philosophical interest in the e-mails that the 
interview was derived from.  However, as a compromise, maybe Horse can host 
the “complete transcript” at moq.org which I can then put a link to from 
robertpirsig.org.  This would then prevent the duplication of the material 
in the MOQ Summary (which did take considerable time to prepare) on the same 
website.

Mark concluded:

Thanks for clearing things up.

Ant McWatt comments:

My pleasure Mark.

Best wishes,

Anthony.



.

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