[MD] Natural Law

[John Carl]

Hi Steve,


> In general, how do we decide what is morally right and wrong? What
> role can the MOQ play if any in that process beyond explaining choices
> after the fact?
>
>
Well the best part of the MoQ's insight is that it's actually a real
question.  There IS a right and wrong, that it's not all just relative
preference.  Good is a noun.

Having that under our belt, we're encouraged to analyze and think about what
kind of patterns we're dealing with, how they are related, and so on.

An example might be helpful.



I think Pirsig almost says that the MOQ levels are useless for
> personal moral deliberation in his football field analogy in the intro
> to LC. If the MOQ levels do not aid s is discernment, what can be said
> about the process of deciding what the world ought to be like and how
> we ought to try to achieve it?
>
>
I don't think the MoQ is useless for personal moral deliberation.  Defining
where you are on the field is very useful.  Imagine if there were no
markers, how hard it would be then to see if one was relatively closer to
the goal of the good.

Besides, the way I read the analogy, Pirsig was talking about dialectical
deliberations, not personal ones.  Altho, to be accurate, all personal
deliberations take the form of a dialectic.  On the other hand... (he says
to himself)

But the main essence of the football field is that we know there is a real
goal post, and knowing this we are infinitely better off than saying "its
just whatever you want it to be."

And here's a keen insight, your positing of Natural Values offers us.
According to Pirsig, Natural Values ARE the goal posts.  The MoQ says that
Nature is the source of values.  Even as Royce embraced the fact of
evolution as demonstration that the cosmos is a moral order, with a
directional emphasis growing toward betterness.

Most of what we call morality, is a code dictating relations with our
society.  Analyzing these codes for betterness, is an intellectual
activity.  Getting them to conform as close as possible to Natural Values,
is our goal.

Yours,

John