[MD] The Rationalization of Intellect

[ridgecoyote at gmail.com]

I was going to continue this debate with Ian, about the difference between intellect and rationality, when something occured to me about the difference between the two modes of mentation in ZAMM and Lila.  In ZAMM, Pirsig speaks about the expansion of rationality, but in Lila, he rationalizes the enthronement of Intellect.  

Anybody recall what I'm talking about?  The passage that compares doing metaphysics to skirt-chasing and drinking?  That's a rationalization.  What's so bad about rationalization that its got such a pejorative slant?  Whenever you give a wider context for doing what you really want to do, its called rationalizing and its considered verboten.  But I think what is really going on, is that intellect is criticising the style of reasoning that is beyond its purview - rationality.  The rationale behind many decisions are not based upon a narrowly logical objective fact, but an intuitively felt consciousness that something more important is going on than mere reason can define.  The heart has reasons that reason knows not. And since we can't explain that in the strictly defined way that intellect loves so well, we rationalize, and intellect sneers.

Someone recently asked, ( I think it was Ham asking of Tuukka) what philosophical realism is.  I can answer that question pretty well because I've read quite a bit of Royce expounding upon the subject.  Realism is the metaphysical view that things are what they are, regardless of our interpretation or cognizance of them.  The objects outside of us are what they are, independent of our subjective opinions.  That trees falling in forests are making sounds, even though there is no ear to hear.  Academia is dominated by Realism. Science is dominated by Realism.  Realism is synonomous  with SOM.  SOM is synonomous with Intellectualism.  Rationalizing intellectualism is wrong, just plain wrong and possibly insane.  I think the path we want is intellectualizing rationality.  That's the expansion of rationality that Phaedrus was seeking. The enthronement of intellect at the top of the heap, just leads to the kind of confusion that lost us Bo's voice and keeps us in befuddles circles.

John