[MD] The Quality/MOQ dichotomy

[Platt Holden]

Hey Ham, 

> One of the problems I have with Pirsig's equivalency theory (i.e., Quality
> = 
> Experience = Value = Reality) is that it makes rational analysis
> impossible. 

I don't see where Quality is any more irrational than your uncreated 
Creator. Both are "outside rational analysis."  But Quality has the 
advantage of being experience, or in SOM terms, being experienced every 
day.

> Thus, DMB says "DQ is experience itself", while Platt says that "Value is
> Experience".  Since they're all one and the same, any epistemology or 
> ontology is off limits, which I suppose is a clever way to avoid
> criticism. 
> The downside is that one has to accept the whole doctrine on faith, since
> any question (such as asking for a proper definition) effectively puts the
> questioner in the "disbeliever" camp.  I find it wonderously strange that
> an 
> anti-theistic philosopher who is identified as a radical empiricist has in
> effect advanced a faith-based thesis.  (Michael will appreciate the irony
> here.)

To believe in an uncreated Creator is a matter of faith is it not?  Unlike 
the Essence idea of an uncreated Creator, the MOQ idea that some things are 
better than others cannot be denied. My cat, UTOE, demonstrates the latter 
every day.

Best regards,
Platt