[MD] Idealism

[david buchanan]

Dan said:
In LILA'S CHILD, Robert Pirsig states that philosophic idealism would help give a better handle on the MOQ. The way I understand it, he feels that scientific materialism is the prevailing cultural thinking in present day Western culture, but philosophic idealism was the prevailing thought during Victorian times. He isn't saying that the MOQ is to be identified with idealism, but rather both idealism and materialism are needed to form a more complete understanding with the MOQ.



dmb says:

I think that's right. James's pragmatism was meant to be a blend Idealism and Empiricism. Pirsig's expanded rationality is supposed to blend classic and romantic thinking in the same way James wanted to blend the tender-minded and tough-minded philosophies. 
It's interesting to watch Pirsig's reactions to Copleston because the text so often explains Idealism by opposing it to empiricism. One can see that Pirsig is sometimes taking sides with the empiricists and sometimes he's joining the Idealists against them. As a result, a person could extract a fairly nuanced position and otherwise get a sense of the finer points. 

Thanks for posting the 1961 letter from Pirsig. 

It doesn't quite get the idea across, but basically I think quality in thought and speech comes from within. None of the methods and tricks will help until you have something to say, until you have your own internal goal, until you have a point and purpose, even if that is still inarticulate. Without that, you just end up adopting some external goal or parroting somebody else's style. Or probably both. The child begins his poem about bamboo by thinking of all the words that rhyme with bamboo. The grown-up begins his poem by spending a lot of time with bamboo. And if the truth about bamboo doesn't rhyme then neither does his poem.