[MD] Step One

[david buchanan]

Mark said:
So, in the context of skilled interpreters, what is the mechanism by which MOQ is crystalizing and growing?  Certainly there should be boundaries or rules of engagement which encompass the direction, like the DNA of a seed defines direction for the shape of the tree.  Such boundaries may be provided by the original manuscript or seed. ... When does speculation on MOQ fall outside these boundaries and become not fit to use that label?  I know these things are probably posted, and being the rebel I am I have not taken the time to read them.  What role does the forum, generously maintained by Horse, play in this?



dmb says:

There is no official interpretation or arbiter. In the larger context, the MOQ will grow and crystalize (or not) just like any other idea. As a practical matter, this means getting Pirsig's ideas into circulation. I don't know if I've ever been in a bookstore that didn't have a copy of Zen and the Art. Millions of copies in several languages and on the book shelves for nearly forty years now. Thanks to McWatt's dissertation (and Granger's too) the circulation of Pirsig's ideas in the academic world is officially under way. And that's important too. It only makes sense that metaphysics should circulate among professional philosophers. Then some intellectual version of survival of the fittest takes over and the good ideas get a lot of attention. It's a messy process and nobody can predict what will win or why but it just so happens that pragmatism is getting a lot of attention these days. It seems like things are now ripe for the MOQ. I mean "now" in the historical sense, not this Thursday afternoon. The pluralism and the east-west fusion and the perennialism all seem right as our tiny planet gets even smaller.