[MD] Philosophy and Abstraction

[david buchanan]

dmb said to Matt:
...As I understand it, you're reading Pirsig's  claims through the lens of Rorty's particular strain of anti-Platonism and anti-representationalism. By doing so the key terms are put into a different context, where they have a very different meaning.

Matt replied:
...I try and keep an eye on those differences, and I understand that you think I fail in producing a picture of Pirsig that Pirsig is either committed to keeping or would see himself in.  But I don't think it's the case that I'm not paying attention as well as I can.

dmb says:
Okay, so you understand the nature of the problem even if you don't quite agree on the specific translation problem I'm complaining about. Not that you and Steve are joined at the hip on this, but on this particular point I don't see any consequential difference between his position and yours. (Feel free to qualify or correct that.) Consider one of his most recent comments:

Steve said to dmb:
Platonism IS the problem with those terms, but it's not that I think Pirsig is a Platonist or intends those terms to punch up Platonism. I don't. ... I prefer not to use the terms ...because I think those terms are too easily construed as more Platonism. 


dmb says:
In a nutshell, that's what I'm talking about. If you don't really think the MOQ is Platonism, what's the point of avoiding Pirsig's central terms?How appropriate is it to use anti-Platonic tactics against an anti-Platonic philosophy. Those tactics make sense in the wider philosophical world and certainly when encountering a Platonist. But here? I don't see how it could do any good in this context. The effect only ever seems to be negative. If one construes Pirsig as a Platonist, it changes the meaning of his central terms quite dramatically. And then the MOQ is made out to be claiming all kinds of things that it specifically rejects elsewhere in text. And then the books are full of contradictions. I think the effect is quite explosive. And yet the cause is so small, even unreal.