[MD] Oneness, Dualism & Intellect

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting ARLO J BENSINGER JR <ajb102 at psu.edu>:

> [Platt]
> Isn't there something in critical thinking about the dangers of inference? I
> don't know. I'm asking. 
> 
> [Arlo]
> I'm not sure how we can reason without inference. Peirce called it "hypothetical
> induction" and later "abduction". We can't _know_ the sun will rise tomorrow.
> But given its track record, its a safe inference (and, of course, pragmatically
> we can say "we know the sun will rise tomorrow").
> 
> Here, with evolution, we see a singular process (the movement of patterns
> towards "betterness") occurring throughout nature and history. I think its a
> safe inference to say this process will continue. Indeed, I think evolution is
> simply the visible manifestation of Quality. 

I see evolution continuing at the intellectual level, but not the lower levels.
No doubt "the visible manifestation of Quality" is in the static values that
DQ has left in its wake. But today, in this very discussion, I observe intellect
in the throes of evolutionary progress. I don't observe that happening in the
inorganic, biological or social levels. 

> [Platt]
> Is it possible we will not evolve at all, but like the Neanderthals, become
> extinct?
> 
> [Arlo]
> Its possible, sure, that we will become extinct. Some days I'm sure of it. I
> once asked a class to write an essay answering "where will humanity be in two
> thousand years?". The overwhelming majority of essays began, "although I don't
> think mankind will be around in two thousand years, if we were...". Whether
> this is the result of media bombardment with horrific events or a dialogue
> centered on Armageddon mythology, I can't say, but I find it illuminating that
> so many can't project a future for man past the next few hundred years. 

Yes. Politicians on both sides use fear of the future to gain and hold power,
not to mention the media which thrives on conflict and disaster. The two go
hand in hand. It seems it will always be thus. The human psyche is attracted
to negativity -- the instinctive rubber necking at the scene of an accident.

> [Platt]
> I don't know who the "we" are you're referring to. Muslims perhaps? In any case
> you can exclude me. But, like Pirsig, I do believe in a higher power that
> "creates this world in which we live." (Lila, 9)
> 
> [Arlo]
> The "we", those that exclude "man" from the natural world around them in an
> elevation of man to a preeminent "outside and above" role, is typical of many
> fundamentalist readings of religion, including most definitely the Occidental
> religions. (Here again I hear Pirsig, "a part of the world and not an enemy of
> it").

Agree.



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