[MD] Philosophy as Biography

[Dan Glover]

Hello everyone

On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 1:11 PM, Steven Peterson
<peterson.steve at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Looking back at my OP I can see that I wasn't clear about my
> intentions and was perhaps misleading, so let me say explicitly that
> am not opposing Pirsig's statement that his biography is a reason we
> ought to care about his philosophy and think of his philosophy as
> distinct from those who said similar things but had different
> biographies. I just meant to raise the issue for discussion because I
> was surprised by what he said when I first read it. Since then I have
> heard Matt say things that seem to support Pirsig's view, so I wanted
> to hear more.

Hi Steve

It's worth noting that RMP did not say "his" biography, which would be
an autobiography. He clearly said biography, which is an account of
someone's life written by another. I've always felt an
uncomfortableness in writing too much about oneself. It seems better
(to me) to take my experiences and put them into an account of a
fictional character's life rather than my own. I think that is more
the direction RMP goes in LILA.

As to your original question:

Steve:
Phaedrus to Lila:
"I've just had feelings that maybe the ultimate truth about the world
isn't history or sociology but biography."

A statement that I always found curious is RMP's one to Bagini about
the originality of the MOQ. He said that his philosophy is unique
because it starts with a practical question about quality in rhetoric
or something like that. When I read that I remember thinking, Why is
THAT important??? Why should we care about the story behind the ideas
rather than just the ideas?

Dan:

Because the ultimate truth of the world is within each of us, not "out
there" as a rock-solid history waiting to be discovered. The stories
we tell about others frames the world of ideas into a meaningful
context. Great story-telling does more than lead a character on a
journey from here to there... it exposes the underlying truth of the
world which would otherwise be incomprehensible as a disconnected
series of ideas pertaining to nothing but themselves... like invisible
entities floating disembodied around all of us as if waiting to be
snatched up.

As to why we should care... I guess we each have to answer that on our own...

Thank you,

Dan