[MD] in defence of the "relative"

[X Acto]

Matt:


A no less curious use of "empiricism" than "relativism."

But, if language-use is experiential, as Pirsig has to be 
committed to saying, then what does that mean for 
"experience verified with experience explains more than 
what can be said about it"?  If "experience" is the broad 
category out of which we can distinguish particular types 
of experience (e.g., inorganic or intellectual), then how 
can your statement make sense?

Ron:
We are always dealing with generalities in understanding
and agreements of the linguistic variety are more limited
in explaination in matters of the verification of meaning.

Which has greater explaination? a linguistic explaination
of a lit match burning my hand or a lit match actually burning my hand?

What would you say had the greater explanitory power, if you 
wanted to verify and agree about the experience of burning your hand
with a lit match?  

Using MoQ terms, the distinction is between intellectual experience
and biological experience, with biological methods of verification
having more explainitory power than intellectual methods.

Matt:
With Aristotle and all that, I have to apologize, but I didn't 
realize we were talking about the meaning of "meaning" and 
I still don't have a real grasp on your thought-angle.

Ron:
To try to make it more clear, it's the effort at gaining knowledge
in the face of the realization that all is relative. The conclusion
is meaning. Meaning gives measure to the relative.

Aristotle starts from the philosophical situation of relativism, 
That really suprised me. The metaphysics is an attempt at
a theory of meaning. Go figure...smells like Pragmatism.

I'm uncovering this Matt, I wish to in no way, to elude to my
being in the know of anything but the exploration of the paralells
in our discussions as they relate to similar discussions by the ancient
Greeks, my aim was to perhaps mark these
paralells and point you at them so that you may help me to understand 
Pragmatism, relativism and how they may fit with Pirsigs ideas.
I'm merely throwing out how these topics may connect in some fashon.
I get the feeling they relate but I do not have a clear explaination
of these suspicions. So I'm hoping you'll help me work them out.