[MD] Taking Words Seriously

[Matt Kundert]

Matt said:
Yeah, but this as critical point against me assumes that I'm 
suggesting that one _should_ begin with standards.  I don't want to 
say that...

DMB said:
Oh. Well I thought you were not only suggesting a set of standards, 
I thought you were also wondering what those standards should be.

Matt:
Yeah, I had a feeling we were talking past each other from the very 
beginning.  Two posts ago, in fact, I tried to correct this perception 
by saying, "I didn't want to say that one _begins_ with standards, but 
that one _is_ standards."  I confess to not knowing how I courted 
that full set of motivations in the first place, but with that 
understanding of what I'm doing, this is what I said on Sept. 6:

"So what I'm thinking is that, aside from our love of doing whatever 
it is we are doing, is there a way of erecting a standard of excellence 
in amateur philosophy?  By definition, it couldn't be for everyone (if it 
were, then we'd have a discipline), but this is the route of beginning 
at home, of beginning with self-definition, what one's own goals are 
and seeing how well one can live up to them.  And perhaps the most 
important question for amateur self-definition: even if you would 
never make anyone else follow your own standard, what is 
_your relationship to others_?  In a discipline, this has a clear answer.  
But in amateur philosophy, it might be something to continually 
meditate on."

You hooked onto "erecting a standard of excellence," but I was talking 
about a heuristic, a way of thinking about ourselves as amateur 
philosophers.  I didn't go on for a reason--it was about introspection, 
self-definition.  Even if if the heuristic is not for everyone, I'm not sure 
how it violates Pirsigian philosophy.

DMB said:
You know, because no matter how freshly that girl saw the upper-left 
hand brick she still had to use words and grammar, the paper and 
pen, and all sorts of static, conceptually knowable elements.

Matt:
Maybe that's your closet ticket to unlocking what I mean by saying 
"we _are_ standards."

Matt