[MD] Theoretical Platonism and Practical Platonism

[Matt Kundert]

The other day, I told Steve about my growing awareness of 
the complexity of nailing down Platonism, a complexity that 
also has to do with Ron's point that Plato is not Platonism 
("text" and "traditions of reading text" are distinct).  I found 
this that captures a little this complexity in relationship to 
my reading of Pirsig, from the end of my "Reading Pirsig as 
a Philosopher" (which could stand to be updated as a 
reflection of how I think):

"Now, Pirsig says that the difference between the Narrator 
and Phaedrus is the difference between social and 
intellectual patterns. I think this a bad description. I think 
a better description (as I suggest in 'Confessions [of a 
Fallen Priest]') is between the Pragmatist Impulse and the 
Metaphysical Impulse. These impulses take two forms, one 
theoretical and one practical. On the theoretical level, the 
level at which these two impulses take on philosophical 
garb and become themselves philosophical positions, these 
two positions are oil and water--they are the warring 
factions between Protagoras and Plato, rhetoric and 
dialectic. On this level, Pirsig must be a pragmatist, for if a 
metaphysician he falls into self-contradiction.

"On the practical level, however, we see the actual efforts 
of Protagoreans and Platonists and the kinds of real life 
considerations that conspire to make us one or the other. 
This is the difference between Pirsig's Coleridgean splicing 
between Platonist and Aristotelian--one focused on 
generalities, as supposedly the Metaphysician is, the other 
on particularities, as supposedly the Pragmatist is. The 
thing about a philosophical position, of course, is that it 
doesn't come with a focus--only people do. This is the 
great muddle--we can separate out logically distinct 
positions, but when it comes to action, the carrying out 
of beliefs, the living of life, it becomes sometimes quite 
difficult to tell what the connection is between being a 
Platonist and professing Platonism. Take the simple, 
obvious and sometimes overlooked (for the purposes of 
getting on with professing) contradiction of Plato's hatred 
of poetry and his poetic practice. Pirsig notes the lifeless 
quality of essays, preaching on in a void like God, but 
what could be more omniscient in position than Plato's 
Forms and more situational life-like than the Dialogues?"

from
http://pirsigaffliction.blogspot.com/2008/02/reading-pirsig-as-philosopher.html

Matt
 		 	   		  
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