[MD] Dissertation re/Pirisig and Postmodernity

[ARLO JAMES BENSINGER JR]

[Andre]
Thanks Arlo, it indeed is not a dissertation on Pirsig’s philosophy. I have read the pieces on her reading of ZMM and LILA from her perspective and must say that von Dahlern makes some worthwhile and interesting comments once again from her perspective. However I must say that there are still things irritating. I’ll cite a few below:

On page 209 von Dahlem asks: If intellectual activity does not automatically lead to the right understanding of Quality, how can we prove that the MOQ is correct? 

[Arlo]
Hi, Andre. Yeah, this is one area where I think she struggles. Here (in this passage) she is forced to switch from the epistemological position to the ontological one, and I think this causes her to misstep. 

[Andre] 
On page 210: There is no good and evil, there is only power… . This literary quote could be altered to describe the MOQ as follows: There is no good and evil, there is only Quality.

[Arlo]
Personally, I dislike her use of JK Rowkling's words from Harry Potter here. Not because I oppose the juxtaposition of literary and philosophical discourse (her entire thesis makes use of this juxtapostion, a juxtaposition also used by Granger, by the way). I oppose it because she glosses over several authors (Foucault and Bourdieu, come to mind) that would advance her narrative rather than introducing a literary quote for the purpose of a philosophical restatement. And, as you are likely suggesting, the restatement is problematic without bringing in a context from LILA that she does not do. Here, I think she would find support for her argument by an understanding that there are two kinds of good and evil, as Pirsig refers to in LILA as "static good" and "Dynamic good". Here, its entirely possible to note (as Pirsig does) that "It's out of this struggle between conflicting static patterns that the concepts of good and evil arise" but also "There has to be another source of good and evil outside the [static social patterns] that produces the [Dynamic] change." (LILA)

Anyways, I'm continuing to work my way through it. I have to stop and dive into some of the authors she is citing to try to see the context she is developing. Hopefully, this will be more positive for Pirsig studies than negative (so far, I do believe that it is).