[MD] Mystics, Brains -- Matt has a question

[Matt Kundert]

Hey Mark,

Matt said:
The sum total of our mind _is_ metaphors, "analogues upon analogues upon 
analogues."

Mark asked:
How may the moq avoid Idealism if this is so?

Matt:
This is the question the early pragmatists struggled with.  The rough and 
ready, quick and dirty answer is that if we eliminate the notion of 
representation, then we eliminate the possibility of idealism and realism.

The sequence is something like this:  Realists say that the world is 
represented by images in our mind.  Idealists point out that if this is so, 
then the only connection we have with the world is in our mind, thus cutting 
out the world.  Pragmatists shortcircuit the whole thing by saying that our 
connection to the world is not one of representation.  We are pushed around 
by the world, and what we call our "minds" is simply a tool by which we make 
our way around the world, not our means of connection.

In Pirsigian language, the answer would be something like: since Quality is 
reality, and our connection with the world would be one of evaluation, who 
would ever get it into their heads that there was a problem with getting 
outside of them?  Value begins at the bottom, not in the "mind."  What we 
call the "mind" is just a set of patterns of value aimed at controlling 
other evolved patterns of value (social-->biological, 
intellectual-->social), which is to say, a tool by which we make our way 
around the world, not our means of connection.

Matt

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