[MD] Quine and the Linguistic Turn

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Platt]
Exactly. Unfortunately the level and range of the static patterns of 
my cat UTOE prevent him from responding to DQ as is true of all 
static patterns.

[Arlo]
So the universe is a cold, dead, static place, but for the wonderful 
presence of MAN! Happily, your decontextual quoting of Pirsig is 
rendered erroneous by a full contextual read of his writings, and 
that's a good thing, because the position you articulate above is 
woefully indefensible.

And happily, your cat does respond to DQ, abeit his responses are 
more limited than yours (but more diverse than an amoeba's). "Static 
patterns" are simply a Gestalt we claim to see atop a pattern of 
preferences, but your cat, like my dog, and like you and me, all are 
able to respond to DQ biologically (as we would all similarly jump 
off the hot stove), and we are all able to discern the Dynamic 
Quality of, say, laying in a beam of sunlight.

I'll only touch briefly on the absurdity of claiming "the level and 
range of the static patterns of [your cat] prevent him from 
responding to DQ" by askinging a few questions.

I presume that before "man" appears, there were animals, or 
biological organisms, of some sort that could, in fact, respond to DQ. No?

If the "level and range" of your cat prevent him from responding to 
DQ, how is it that the component cells of the human body way back 
when humans first evolved, were able to respond to DQ and produce the 
human physiology? Seems those cells even have less a "level and 
range" as the static patterns of your cat, and yet they must have 
"dynamically" produced the human body. No?

I for one am glad a contextual read of Pirsig reveals a vibrant and 
evolving cosmos, awash with change and latches, evolving 
continuously, as opposed to a dead and static universe inhabited by 
"man", the sole creature bestowed miraculously as the only thing in 
creation capable of evolving. *Shudder*

Again.

Pirsig says, "When the person who sits on the stove first discovers 
his low-Quality situation, the front edge of his experience is Dynamic." (LILA)

Now, I ask, how is that "front edge of his experience" any different 
than if a cat or dog sat on the same hot stove? Answer... it isn't.

Pirsig goes on saying, "A "dim perception of he knows not what" gets 
him off Dynamically." (LILA)

I ask again, how is this any different than a cat or dog jumping away 
from the hot stove? Answer.. it isn't.