[MD] [Bulk] Re: Humanism

[Arlo Bensinger]

[DMB quotes Pirsig]
"I'm very pleased to know that Dr. Anthony McWatt and David Buchanan 
will be speaking at Oxford. They are the two foremost philosophers 
today on the Metaphysics of Quality and its implications for the 
guidance of humanity. General public understanding of this 
metaphysical system is still in its infancy and they deserve the 
careful, open-minded attention that early proponents of any idea 
need." (Robert Pirsig, October 2009)

[Arlo]
Its good to hear that as recently as last year Pirsig was supporting 
your work and giving you the credit you deserve for your efforts. 
Largely, I'm sorry a lot of your effort and time is wasted here.

I continue to think a large part of the problem is that people do not 
want disagree with Pirsig, they want to twist Pirsig into agreeing 
with them. I suspect it has a lot to with the need for validation, 
and I suspect that a large part of the animosity you face is simply 
jealousy. One thing I constantly tell students I work is to never be 
afraid to disagree, but ensure your disagreement stands of solid 
reasoning. And the only way to form this foundation is by actually 
understanding what the author meant in the first place. In other 
words, to form disagreement with Pirsig one should be clear about 
what Pirsig has said. And I think its the efforts of you, Ant, Horse 
and Dan that continues to keep (or tries to keep) that on path (and 
David Granger, of course, whose book I recommend to anyone with a 
serious interest in Pirsig's philosophy).