[MD] Step two

[david]

dmb said:

These are not new ideas, really. ...It's a wide-spread and well-known way of thinking about our situation. Pirsig is giving us his own version but the basic categories really shouldn't be contentious or confusing. Sorry, but all these weird questions and bizarre suggestions about defining levels, adding levels, putting levels between levels, it's all just a bunch of boring nonsense that never, ever goes anywhere. Yawn. Please wake me when it's over.


Jan-Anders replied to dmb and all:

It’s not over yet. The MOQ, with the knowledge of the 4 levels, is the tool that, correctly understood and mastered, can be applied on several misconceptions like...[snip] ...That is why I think it is important to try to find an easy, clear definition of the treshold between the levels, to avoid confusion. 



dmb says:

I don't understand why anyone should be confused in the first place - and I've never had much trouble applying the levels or the codes either. I use the levels to think about things every time I read the news, not least of all to shed light on the reactionary, anti-intellectual forces in the culture. As I see it, Jan, your quest for greater clarity is anything but clear and attempts to solve a problem that doesn't really exist. You recently said, for example, that "the question about the mysterious 5th biological level has to be solved." But biology is the second level and there is no "mysterious 5th level". This is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind when I complained about "all these weird questions and bizarre suggestions about defining levels, adding levels, putting levels between levels". 

I haven't offered much feedback or criticism of your book, Jan, but I have no interest in reading it because your contributions to this forum have never given me any reason to believe that you understand Pirsig's work. Even thought you spend a great deal of time trying to sell your book, I still have no idea what it's about, no idea where you're coming from, and I certainly don't have any questions about a 5th biological level, whatever that's supposed to be. What do you think you're doing? Seriously. I'd like to know.