[MF] What are people?

[Kevin Perez]

  Matt wrote,
   
  > I think people are a reflection of their experiences in life , both
> empirical, and metaphysically.  So yes, thats their relationships with not
> only other people around them, but their environment (house, work, world) as
> well.
>
>
> people are also a reflection upon the past histories/tendencies of life and
> non-life.
   
  I have to agree.  I'm an off-road cyclist.  When I ride alone there are primarily five
  things that contribute to the quality of the ride; the weather, the trails, the machine,
  my gear and me.  An excellent ride is possible when the weather is warm, the sky is
  clear, the trails are dry, the machine is working well, I'm well supported, and I'm in
  shape and alert.  Take anything away form any of these things and the ride looses its
  quality which is to say the quality of the ride is a measure of how well these things are
  integrated.
   
  The question, "what are people apart from their relationships with other people"
  occurred to me while I was contemplating Pirsig's comment "man is always the
  measure of all things" (Lila, p. 325), the complementary statement, "man is not the
  source of all things" (ZMM p. ?) and a line in Lila that, according to the Metaphysics
  of Quality, "a thing that has no value does not exist" (Lila, p. 98).  Ian has correctly
  pointed out that all of this stems from the question "where is theism in the MOQ?"  I
  suspect it's my theistic bias that is the impetus behind my focus on relationships.
   
  In the example of an off-road bicycle ride, the evaluation of quality is a function of how
  well the different elements come together.  For the case of the technician in ZMM, the
  one who used a hammer and cold chisel to remove tappet covers, the evaluation of
  quality was a real issue for Pirsig but apparently a moot point for the mechanic.  Or
  was it?  We don't know where the mechanic came from.  Was it his first day on the
  job?  Did he receive any training?  And we don't know what became of him after Pirsig
  left.  Did he learn from the experience or was the next day business as usual?
   
  I think the depth of a person's connectedness with the people, things and events in
  their life is the measure of their own quality.  I would think that for any particular
  person, thing or event there is an infinite number of relationships and contexts for
  relationships.  The relationships that we end up with are not simply a matter of our choosing.  That perspective, to me, is aligned with Subject/Object Metaphysics.
  I would say that relationships are more a matter of the giving and the taking, the
  flow, that is the relationship itself.
   
  If I had to establish a bottom line on this I would say that relationships are the
  measure of all things and that apart from their relationships, people don't exist.  Flesh
  and bones does not a person make.
   
  
Kevin Perez


		
---------------------------------
 Yahoo! DSL Something to write home about. Just $16.99/mo. or less