[MD] The state of morality in the mordern world

[Platt Holden]

Hi All, 

One of the most penetrating and poignant passages from Lila is Pirsig's 
description of our current spiritual state as the result of following the 
siren song of science:

"Everyone seemed to be guided by an "objective," "scientific" view of life 
that told each person that his essential self is his evolved material body. 
Ideas and societies are a component of brains, not the other way around. No 
two brains can merge physically, and therefore no two people can ever 
really communicate except in the mode of ship's radio operators sending 
messages back and forth in the night. A scientific, intellectual culture 
had become a culture of millions of isolated people living and dying in 
little cells of psychic solitary confinement, unable to talk to one 
another, really, and unable to judge one another because scientifically 
speaking it is impossible to do so. Each individual in his cell of 
isolation was told that no matter how hard he tried, no matter how hard he 
worked, his whole life is that of an animal that lives and thinks like any 
other animal. He could invent moral goals for himself, but they are just 
artificial inventions. Scientifically speaking he has no goals.

"Sometime after the twenties a secret loneliness, so penetrating and so 
encompassing that we are only beginning to realize the extent of it, 
descended upon the land. This scientific, psychiatric isolation and 
futility had become a far worse prison of the spirit than the old Victorian 
"virtue" ever was." (Lila, 22)

In an article entitle, "Psychology: The Hard Truth about a Soft Science," 
the author not only supports Pirsig's view but attributes much of the cause 
to modern psychology, beginning with Freud. Citing that "Science deals in 
empiricism, in what can be observed, touched and quantified, and nothing 
spiritual, be it the soul, Truth or something else, qualifies," the author 
concludes, "Thus, psychology prefers to view man as an organic robot, a 
cosmic accident, one whose actions are explainable in terms of hardware 
(genetics) and software (conditioning or socialization." 

As a result, any notion of a rational morality embedded in nature as 
proposed in the MOQ is rejected out of hand. "If psychology's predominant 
school of thought is correct and there is no God, no Truth and we have no 
souls, then, sure, we are simply a few pounds of chemicals and water; 
hence, organic robots. And this would have some staggering implications. 
For one, morality is then mere opinion, and we can't expect opinion to 
govern the operation of the human "machine" any more than it influences the 
rotation of the Earth." 

I can only give you the flavor of the article here. Read In full at:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/04/psychology_the_hard_truth_abou.html

If you have ever asked yourself why the MOQ gets a cold reception by most  
academics, this article helps answer.

Best,
Platt