[MD] Philosophy and Philosophology

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[John]
Yeah, that runs through my mind sometimes when Pirsig, the greatest teacher of
them all attacks academics.

[Arlo]
I think Pirsig's criticism reflects the S/O paradigm by which "academics"
operate, not with the fundamental existence or value of the "academy". But this
criticism he also levels against those who control the modes of production, and
those who consume a market that delivers "stylized junk". His same critiques of
Dusenberry's contemporaries reflects the same critiques of the "mechanics" who
nearly destroyed his bike, and also those who go to a factory and toil in the
same repetitive job day in and day out. It's the "death march" of ZMM that maps
criticism across the board at modern culture and society, not just that
dreadful "academy" and its commie perfessers. If we lose sight of this, and
simply regurgitate endless anti-intellectual vomit from talk-radio, we simply
play into the hands of those same "right-wing" politicians that branded Pirsig
a "radical professor" and sought to have him dismissed from his post. Think
about that, if he is the Great Teacher, anti-intellectual right-wing
reactionism nearly cost him his job. The academy may have moved slow to adopt
his novel ideas (but IS!), but right-wing anti-intellectualism would have
silenced him way back in Montana.