[MD] Barfuersserkirche (The Role of the Academy)

[Dan Glover]

Hello everyone

>From: Arlo Bensinger <ajb102 at psu.edu>
>Reply-To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
>To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
>Subject: [MD] Barfuersserkirche (The Role of the Academy)
>Date: Tue, 03 Oct 2006 09:30:47 -0400
>
>Dan made some comments recently differentiating "educating yourself" and
>"being educated". The underlying premise appeared to be, "who needs the
>Academy when there are libraries and bookstores". Above our library, one
>building across from my office, is engraved the words "The True University
>is collection of books". As always having seen the inherent wisdom in such
>a statement, and yet one who also sees the value of The Academy as a
>discursive "place", I got to thinking... is there a conflict here?

Hi Arlo

Thank you for this post as it's right along the line of thought I've been 
following myself. First of all though let me clear up the misconception that 
one doesn't need academia when there are libraries and bookstores. I deeply 
admire those like Anthony McWatt and David Buchanan and Mark Maxwell and 
others who are making names for themselves and the MOQ within academia. I am 
not saying it's better to just read books rather than go to a college or 
university. I'm saying there's a process of indoctrination involved however, 
much like the process one goes through when serving in the military. One 
gives up any right to creative thought processes in favor of the greater 
social good and in doing so becomes a member of an exclusive club. Look:

"Between the lines Phædrus read no doubts, no sense of awe, only the eternal 
smugness of the professional academician. Did Aristotle really think his 
students would be better rhetoricians for having learned all these endless 
names and relationships?" (ZMM)

So I guess that is the question: do students really better themselves by 
learning all the endless names and relationships they learn in college? Or 
is it society that benefits?

>
>Anticipating the forthcoming book from David Granger, one could lay out a
>historical spectrum of ideas as to the role of The Academy (assuming for
>present purposes we don't make an artificial distinction between "higher
>education" and "K12 education") from enculturation to utility (preparing
>workers) to assimilation to preservation, from a "tool of the state" to a
>naturally emerging discourse community, inhabited by those seeking grades,
>jobs, wisdom, knowledge, from those who have no idea why they are here, to
>those with a distinct goal. It is home to the humble and brilliant as well
>as the arrogant and condescending.

Again, I am not seeking to disparage higher education - to the contrary, I 
think I've heard it said that education is the ultimate currency.

>
>Within The Academy, "classrooms" range from large lecture halls with one
>main speaker, to small discussion-oriented circles, from the Socratic Ideal
>to Fordian Functionality. It has excluded minorities and sought to populate
>its halls with them. But are all these local, historical, cultural
>manifestations of the "university" (lower case), the brick and mortar
>parallel to Pirsig's "Church of Reason"?

What a great point! In ZMM we read:

"We are at the classic-romantic barrier now, where on one side we see a 
cycle as it appears immediately...and this is an important way of seeing 
it...and where on the other side we can begin to see it as a mechanic does 
in terms of underlying form...and this is an important way of seeing things 
too. These tools for example...this wrench...has a certain romantic beauty 
to it, but its purpose is always purely classical. It’s designed to change 
the underlying form of the machine.

"The porcelain inside this first plug is very dark. That is classically as 
well as romantically ugly because it means the cylinder is getting too much 
gas and not enough air. The carbon molecules in the gasoline aren’t finding 
enough oxygen to combine with and they’re just sitting here loading up the 
plug. Coming into town yesterday the idle was loping a little, which is a 
symptom of the same thing.

"Just to see if it’s just the one cylinder that’s rich I check the other 
one. They’re both the same. I get out a pocket knife, grab a stick lying in 
the gutter and whittle down the end to clean out the plugs, wondering what 
could be the cause of the richness. That wouldn’t have anything to do with 
rods or valves. And carbs rarely go out of adjustment. The main jets are 
oversized, which causes richness at high speeds but the plugs were a lot 
cleaner than this before with the same jets. Mystery. You’re always 
surrounded by them. But if you tried to solve them all, you’d never get the 
machine fixed. There’s no immediate answer so I just leave it as a hanging 
question.

"The first tappet is right on, no adjustment required, so I move on to the 
next. Still plenty of time before the sun gets past those trees—I always 
feel like I’m in church when I do this -- .The gage is some kind of 
religious icon and I’m performing a holy rite with it. It is a member of a 
set called "precision measuring instruments" which in a classic sense has a 
profound meaning."

So in answer to your question I would say no, the Church of Reason isn't the 
brick and mortar universities that students attend. The Church of Reason is 
the "precision measuring instruments" that the brick and mortar universities 
spring from - intellectual patterns of value that demand obedience to 
Reason.

>And of the "Church" itself, is it
>a condemnable remnant of Aristotelian metaphysics?

I think the "church" itself isn't condemnable at all, unless we all want to 
go back to the stone age.

>If we "burn down the
>schools", will Quality be served by simply issuing library cards?

They get mad at me at the library when I write in the columns of their books 
and threaten to make me pay for them. So I like to buy my own books. 
Seriously though, isn't this a personal decision we all make? If there are 
so many books to read in a university course that the student grows weary of 
reading and after the course is over refuses to read another book has 
Quality been served?

>Is The
>Academy imposed on us, or does it spring naturally from our activity?

Remember the Chairman's tirade from ZMM?

>Would
>people NOT congregate to talk, to share ideas, to work together on
>research? If Pirsig taught a class, would none of us attend? Is there
>nothing, no body of thought, or area of knowledge, or skill, that is served
>better by collaborative work in the Church of Reason?

As long as they are members of the club, people will talk, share ideas, and 
work together. If they are not members of the club, not so much 
collaboration goes on, at least in my experience.

Thank you for your comments,

Dan