[MD] Quick one: causation

[Ham Priday]

Craig --

> Pirsig has developed a more unified theory: iron filings
> prefer movement towards a magnet in the way inorganic
> things prefer; a heliotropic plant prefers movement toward
> the sun in the way biological things do; people prefer
> success to failure in the way people do.

I am well aware of Pirsig's value theory, and can understand why he resorted 
to it as the basis for his Quality hierarchy.

However, it is one thing to "unify a theory", but quite another to validate 
it or gain acceptance for it.  Extending value preferences to inanimate 
objects is a regression to animism that has no biological or scientific 
support.  As Arlo, Chris, Krimel, and other nihilists have pointed out, 
"accident" or probability carried to infinity can logically be thought to 
account for any result.  Teleology, the doctrine that ends are immanent in 
nature (the "final cause"), continues to be an argument for intelligent 
design.  These explanations are logically plausible because they do not 
involve volition or proprietary sensibility on the part of inorganic matter.

I stand by my assertion that unrealized value is an epistemological 
absurdity.  Without a sensible agent to realize it there is no value.  You 
may argue that plants, which depend on photo-synthesis for growth, bend 
toward the sun by some internal mechanism that "favors" solar energy.  But 
you can't make this argument for falling objects that are pulled to the 
earth by gravity or iron filings that are drawn to a magnet by 
electro-mechanical force.

Thanks for the clarification, Craig.

Regards,
Ham