[MD] Descartes in a MOQ light.

[Ham Priday]

Hi Peter --

I would have replied to your message earlier, except that it somehow got 
misdirected to my "junk" file. However, I did read and appreciate your note 
to Bo concerning the "latter day social level" argument as he applied it to 
Muslims.


> I read both Pirsig's books several times but never picked up a suggestion
> that he thought intellect exists on a supra-human plane, accessible to man
> but not a human function; and, like you (and I guess like skutvic, whose
> argument I favour) I reject such a view.

This happens to be my own view of the Pirsigian ontology.  As I understand 
the MoQ's interpretation of Intellect, it is not a human attribute but some 
abstract level of Quality that is apprehended by humans at an appropriate 
stage of their development.  Hence, the connotation "supra-human".

> I also disagree that the process is exclusive to humans, other beings have
> it too - like SA's cougar hesitating to jump the ravine, how else can such
> behaviour be possible without intelligence?
>
> I have appreciated some of the ideas you came up with, but this! I give 
> you
> a chance to explain otherwise I know I'll tend to skip your posts in 
> future.

I concede that non-human creatures possess some degree of intelligence to 
guide their instinctual behavior, but the term "intellectual", in common 
parlance at least, implies conceptual understanding beyond the notion of 
what is a food source and what is a predator.  Certainly developing a 
logical concept of reality from the principles of nature and deductive 
experience requires analytical judgments far beyond that capacity of even 
the most intelligent primates.

Does a cougar know that it is a mortal creature with a limited lifespan?  Is 
it conscious of itself as an identity that stands apart from its objective 
environment?  Does it understand the complexities of Nature well enough to 
predict shortfalls in the food supply or impending natural disasters, and 
act accordingly?  One may argue that there are many kinds of intelligence, 
and intellect is just one of them, but that is not Pirsig's thesis.  He 
seems to suggest that Intellect is something creatures aspire to in their 
bio-social evolution, at the same time denying that intellect is an 
attribute of the subject or "self".

That, in a word, is my complaint about the MoQ's Intellect, Peter.   If my 
concept of intellect is so foreign to the MoQ that you will no longer read 
my posts, that is your prerogative.  I would hope this isn't the case, as I 
consider every participant's opinion worthy of consideration.

Thanks for allowing me to clarify my position.

Best regards,
Ham