[MD] subject/object: pragmatism

[Platt Holden]

Hi Joe,

[Joe] 
> IMO we know value through a 'luminous intelligence' which manifests at the
> social level, the level of proprietary awareness, consciousness.  The
> manifestation of this awareness is my conscience which kind of leads me into
> what I perceive as right action.  With this manifestation of conscience in
> the social order, I conclude that even the inorganic order has 'luminous
> intelligence'.  I do not know if science would accept this?

Personally I reserve the use of  "luminous" to describe peak experiences 
when DQ shines all around you . . . such as described by Pirsig in Lila:

"He said, imagine that you walk down a street past, say, a car where 
someone has the radio on and it plays a tune you've never heard before but 
which is so fantastically good it just stops you in your tracks. You listen 
until it's done. Days later you remember exactly what that street looked 
like when you heard that music. You remember what was in the store window 
you stood in front of. You remember what the colors of the cars in the 
street were, where the clouds were in the sky above the buildings across 
the street, and it all comes back so vividly you wonder what song they were 
playing, and so you wait until you hear it again." (Lila, 9)

I agree that atoms at the inorganic level exhibit preferences, suggesting a 
form of experience. But, I don't think science would agree with this tepid 
description much less "luminous intelligence." (Science and the MOQ 
disagree on a number of things, the most prominent being the existence of 
values as natural phenomena.) 

As for conscience, IMO whatever conscience you and I may have mostly
results from our individual life experiences. Depending on how the four 
levels impacted on us as individuals, our sense of quality leading to 
"right action" may differ.  

Regards,
Platt