[MD] s/o dichotomy

[MarshaV]

Greetings,

This is certainly a worthy topic, especially since the Wikipedia article states that it is a primary concern of Robert Pirsig.  Perhaps the folks from the LilaSquad could be invited back for a specified time period to open up this one topic.  Or not...  
 
 
Marsha 

p.s.  Please note that the MoQ Textbook states that Idealism is a form of SOM.


2.2. SUBJECT-OBJECT METAPHYSICS 
Pirsig uses the term ‘subject-object metaphysics’ (SOM) for any metaphysics (explicitly or implicitly) that perceives reality as either mind and/or matter such as idealism, materialism, and dualism. This recognition is not unique to Pirsig as, for instance, the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy also notes that ‘a subject-object dichotomy is acknowledged in most Western traditions’. 
    (McWatt, Anthony, 'MoQ Textbook', 2010)



Wikipedia:

The subject–object problem, a longstanding philosophical issue, is concerned with the analysis of human experience, and arises from the premise that the world consists of objects (entities) which are perceived or otherwise presumed to exist as entities, by subjects (observers). This division of experience results in questions regarding how subjects relate to objects. An important sub-topic is the question of how our own mind relates to other minds, and how to treat the "radical difference that holds between our access to our own experience and our access to the experience of all other human beings", known as the epistemological problem of other minds.  The subject–object problem has two primary aspects. First is the question of "what" is known. The field of ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences. The second standpoint is that of "how" does one know what one knows. The field of epistemology questions what knowledge is, how it is acquired, and to what extent it is possible for a given entity to be known. It includes both subjects and objects.

...

Other approaches:

Analytic philosophy discusses various aspects of the problem of subject and object such as the mind body problem, first-person versus third-person perspective and also issues of non-referential use of I presented by G. E. M. Anscombe.

Robert M. Pirsig's philosophy of the Metaphysics of Quality is largely concerned with the subject–object problem.

Sun Myung Moon's philosophy, Unification Thought, treats subject and object in a way different from classical ideas of Hegel and Marx. 

Philosopher Ken Wilber has written extensively on this, calling the omniscient view (or subject–object distinction) the fundamental modernist paradigm, and cataloging its effects on society, and in the way many subjects have been compressed into a "flat" view by this perspective. 



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject-object_problem