[MD] freewill

[david buchanan]

Ron said to Dan:
This part has me confused about how Pirsigs Ideas about the expansion of reason fits together with this interpretation. The only time we are truly free is when one over comes intellectual stuckness. To say that true freedom is freedom from static patterns of value is only speaking about intellectual patterns to be sure. And I'm not quite sure this squares with the idea of the expansion of reason.

dmb says:
The expansion of reason is basically adding a feel for the work, like when the motorcycle mechanic becomes one with the task. He or she understands the rational relationship between all the parts, has a feel for the tools and even acts as a motorcycle scientist test hypotheses and hunches along the way but he or she also has an artist's feel for the work and he or she cares enough to get so deeply absorbed and engaged in the task that he or she is lost in it and becomes one with the bike.
There was an article about this in the Huffington post earlier this year. It connects peak experience or "flow" experiences to Pirsig's deeply engaged motorcycle mechanic.
As James so simply and succinctly puts it, the best philosophies and the best philosophers will bring ALL their faculties to bear, not just logical and rational thinking. You gotta have that, but it's not enough.