Re: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

[rosen%ji.Berkeley.EDU@BERKELEY.EDU (Rob Rosen)]

In article <8701291726.AA06471@EDDIE.MIT.EDU> you write:
>Really-From: "ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA>
>
>
>Phaedrus has much to say concerning the importance of QUALITY as an entity
>in and of itself.  Unfortunately, he was forced to the conclusion that QUALITY
>can not be defined (this being arrived at through REASON, a subordinate
>level of understanding to quality).  So, I believe that many of the comments
>made here, of late, can be attributed to the QUALITY of any given artist's
>music.  Because the attribute of QUALITY remains outside the bounds of 
>unerstanding or definition based on the rules learned in The Church of Reason,
>we, being students of that church, are incapable of defining QUALITY as
>it applies to any given artist's music.  We are forced, as IED has repeatedly
>demonstrated, into forcing definitions on QUALITY which are, at most, purely
>arbitrary.  Therefore, (and I'm not sure this follows logically, but logic
>also resides within the bounds of the Church of Reason), the essence which
>everone has been arguing here, is something which can be appreciated but
>not expressed in rational argument.  We cannot judge QUALITY based on
>reason alone.
>
>John
>------

	You know, this argument is starting to sound like Wittgenstein, who
spent the greater part of his life trying to articulate the concept of a
"language game" but kept getting frustrated because you can't really define
a concept fundamental to a framework from within the framework.  However, 
since you can't get outside the framework because the framework is fundamental
to your existence, you are forever doomed to misarticulate the concept.

	So, as I have said before, "let's just forget about this shit and
		play golf."	

	%%Rob

	(BTW: I too read "Zen."  I thought it quickly became irrelevant 
	 except for the underlying terror that outlined the entire book,
	 which was the protagonist's fear of losing control over his
	 sanity; the question arose as to what the dividing line is between
	 SANITY and INSANITY...who exactly draws this line, and on what
	 criteria?  An scary thing to ponder, if you take the time.)
-- 

		Rob Rosen
		Computer Systems Support Group
		University of California

	rosen@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU (the syntactically correct address)
	ucbvax!rosen (for people who actually LIKE source routing)