[MD] concerning SOL??

[Steve Peterson]

Hi Bo,


On Sep 4, 2009, at 3:47 AM, skutvik at online.no wrote:

> Hi Steve
>
> 2 Sep. you wrote:
>
>> I completely agree that it sounds very strange to say that the
>> intellectual level is a single fact/value rather than the  
>> collection of
>> ALL intellectual patterns of value.
>
Bo:
> Do you find it strange that all biological patterns are about one  
> single
> fact/value: LIFE?

Steve:
Here you are pretty much saying that all biological patterns are  
biological since biology means having to do with life. All biological  
patterns have something to do with life just as all intellectual  
patterns have to do with using symbols, but life is not the only  
value on the biological level. For example, "might makes right"  
describes a biological pattern that is not equivalent to "the value  
of life." Hunger is a biological pattern of value that is not  
equivalent to life. Killing is a biological pattern that is not  
equivalent to life. So I would never define the biological level as  
"the value of life" but instead define it as the collection of all  
biological patterns of value.


> Steve said:
>> Certainly the habit of mind that involves asking "is this  
>> subjective or
>> objective?" is one such pattern of value, but it is just one.
>
Bo:
> It was SOM (represented by his colleagues) that asked Phaedrus this
> question and the fact that they saw it as a dilemma shows that it was
> regarded unavoidable - Quality HAD to fit the S/O matrix - something
> that shows that it was the ONLY way of thinking there were.

Steve:
Note that this question did not occur to Pirsig in his initial  
musings on Quality. Instead it occurred to some of his colleagues as  
a way to challenge what he was saying. Was Pirsig not participating  
in intellectual patterns before he tried to answer this question?  
You've limited intellect to asking yourself a single question about  
objectivity versus subjectivity. Certainly asking this one question  
is not the only intellectual pattern. I never ask it when I'm  
factoring a polynomial for example or when I'm trying to decide  
whether I should be using the word "who" or "whom" when I am  
constructing a sentence. In fact, I'm only asking this question when  
I happen to be asking this question.

Best,
Steve