[MD] Dewey's Zen

[Andre]

dmb:

"...experiences come whole, pervaded by unifying qualities that demarcate them within the flux of our lives. If we want to find meaning, or the basis for meaning, we must therefore start with the qualitative unity that Dewey describes. The demarcating pervasive quality is, at first, unanalyzed, but it is the basis for subsequent analysis, thought, and development. Thought starts from this experienced whole, and only then does it introduce distinctions that carry it forward as inquiry".

Andre:
I'll have a go at this as well dmb though I do have questions as my philosophical background is limited. I think this part expresses what Pirsig means when he argues that Quality comes first, experience comes first from which static patterns of quality are abstracted.

Question I have regarding this section: what does the writer mean by '[experiences come whole], pervaded by unifying qualities that demarcate them... "?

"It is not wrong to say that we experience objects, properties, and relations, but it is wrong to say that these are primary in experience. What are primary are pervasive qualities of situations, within which we subsequently discriminate objects, properties, and relations".

Andre:
This, once again is similar to what Pirsig is saying, to suggest that subjects and objects are the starting point is wrong. Starting point is Quality, after which subjects and objects are abstracted. There is nothing wrong with subjects and objects per se. As Pirsig says, the MOQ does not trash the SOM. It contains the SOM within a larger system. The only thing it trashes is the SOM assertion that values are unreal.

"Dewey took great pains to remind us that the primary locus of human experience is not atomistic sense impressions, but rather what he called a "situation," by which he meant, not just our physical setting, but the whole complex of physical, biological, social, and cultural conditions that constitute any given experience?experience taken in its fullest, deepest, richest, broadest sense".

Andre:
Yes, though the MOQ suggests that 'the primary locus of human experience' is DQ, that is undifferentiated, the inorganic,organic,social and intellectual patterns come later. Unless I read this wrongly.

"Mind, on this view, is neither a willful creator of experience, nor is it a mere window to objective mind-independent reality. Mind is a functional aspect of experience that emerges when it becomes possible for us to share meanings, to inquire into the meaning of a situation, and to initiate action that transforms, or remakes, that situation".

Andre:
The MOQ seems to say the same thing re 'mind'. "Mind" as subject is the intellectual level. It emerged out of the social level. I.e sharing meanings.

"The pervasive quality of a situation is not limited merely to sensible perception or motor interactions. Thinking is action, and so "acts of thought" also constitute situations that must have pervasive qualities. Even our best scientific thinking stems from the grasp of qualities".

Andre:
The MOQ defines the intellectual level as the manipulation of symbols that stand for patterns of experience. It is similar to inorganic,organic and social 'interactions' displaying ever expanding freedom at subsequent levels. (inorganic low...intellectual high)


"And perhaps my favorite....

             The crux of Dewey's entire argument is that what we call thinking, or reasoning, or logical inference could not even exist without the felt qualities of situations: "The underlying unity of qualitativeness regulates pertinence or relevancy and force of every distinction and relation; it guides selection and rejection and the manner of utilization of all explicit terms."

Andre:
I guess the writer stresses the affective side here as being an inherent part of the intellectual process, which when 'combined' results in an intuitive awareness of unity. This awareness of unity regulates ones actions (select or reject) at all levels.
Bah, this sounds clumsy but I am interested in getting some feedback on this prof. Buchanan!