[MD] What's missing

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting Kevin Perez <kjp_on_moq at yahoo.com>:

> If I had to guess I'd say Pirsig's view of intellectualism is intimately tied
> to his notions of individualism.  No.  It's more than that.  They're one and
> the same.  What Pirsig means by the intellectual level is some sort of
> wholeness in an individual's connection to Quality.  Problem is, on that
> level there's nothing that can be said about it because on that level there
> is only the individual and Quality.  The "conversation" moves to the
> social level the momemt someone else joins it, a la MoQ.  So one's
> individual connection to Quality is meaningless and purposeless to
> anyone else outside of one's connection with family, friends and
> community.
>  
> I'd say what's missing is what's missing in Pirsig's understanding of the
> two-way interactions between individuals and their society.  What's
> missing is a clearer understanding of how Quality affects individuals and
> how Quality and individuals affect other individuals and social structures.
>  
> Intellectualism is a red herring because intellectual concepts, in
> themselves, do not have the power to affect anything.  Thinking that they
> do is pure SOM, imo.

Except for the last paragraph which I don't understand I think Kevin is right
in emphasizing the role of the individual as the key difference between the
social and intellectual levels. At the social level, Gods and groupthink dominate.
At the intellectual level, individual thought based on S/O dominates with 
Aristotle leading the way. I have presented arguments for this position in
a number of previous posts.

Platt
  


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