[MD] Dawkins a Materialist (is watching?)

[David M]

Case

Of course things arn't so random that improbability drives
create a bowl of petunias, good joke though.

Thanks
David M

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Case" <Case at iSpots.com>
To: <moq_discuss at moqtalk.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 8:30 AM
Subject: Re: [MD] Dawkins a Materialist (is watching?)


> [Case]
> I have pointed out a couple of times Pirsig's statement that a
> Metaphysics of Quality would be like a metaphysics of randomness. He
> dismisses this as absurb. I think the MoQ should embrace it.
>
> [m]
> Did RMP really state this?  Wow!  Where?
>
> [Case]
> In Chapter 2 when he is talking about his tray of slips he says:
>
> "Some of the slips were actually about this topic: random access and
> Quality. The two are closely related. Random access is at the essence of
> organic growth, in which cells, like post-office boxes, are relatively
> independent. Cities are based on random access. Democracies are founded on
> it. The free market system, free speech, and the growth of science are all
> based on it. A library is one of civilization's most powerful tools
> precisely because of its card-catalog trays. Without the Dewey Decimal
> System allowing the number of cards in the main catalog to grow or shrink 
> at
> any point the whole library would soon grow stale and useless and die."
>
> I know the random access is not the same thing as randomness although I
> would argue randomness is essential in the context of the kinds of growth 
> he
> refers too. It is product of the complexity of the systems he uses as
> examples.
>
> Then in Chapter 5 after a discussion of anthropology when he talks about
> resistance he is likely to get over attempting to create a metaphysics. He
> says:
>
> "Since a metaphysics is essentially a kind of dialectical definition and
> since Quality is essentially outside definition, this means that a
> 'Metaphysics of Quality' is essentially a contradiction in terms, a 
> logical
> absurdity.
> It would be almost like a mathematical definition of randomness. The more
> you try to say what randomness is the less random it becomes. Or 'zero,' 
> or
> 'space' for that matter."
>
>
>
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