Pirsig's metaphysics of Quality 5461167 225805310 2008-07-15T14:13:06Z Sucrine 973336 C S Lewis -> C. S. Lewis {{selfref|The page history of [[metaphysics of quality]] should be merged with this page's history when the block-compression bug is fixed.}} The '''metaphysics of Quality''' (MOQ) is a [[theory]] of [[reality]] introduced in [[Robert M. Pirsig|Robert Pirsig]]'s [[philosophy|philosophical]] [[novel]], ''[[Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance]]'' (1974) and expanded in ''[[Lila: An Inquiry into Morals]]'' (1991). The MOQ incorporates facets of [[East Asian philosophy]], [[Pragmatism]], the work of [[F. S. C. Northrop]], and [[Indigenous American philosophy]]. Pirsig argues that the MOQ is a better lens through which to view reality than the traditional [[dualism|dualistic]] [[subject (philosophy)|subjective]]/[[object (philosophy)|objective]] mindset. ==Development== Pirsig began college as a [[chemistry]] student, and dropped out after concluding that the ultimate answers to life were not to be found in science. He soon began to look to [[philosophy]] to search for answers. In 1950, while studying philosophy at [[Banaras Hindu University]], Pirsig came across the [[Sanskrit]] doctrine of ''[[Tat tvam asi]]'' -- in his words, "[[Thou art that]], which asserts that everything you think you are (Subjective), and everything you think you perceive (Objective), are undivided. To fully realize this lack of division is to become enlightened." The nature of mystical experience plays an underlying role throughout his work. In the late 1950s, Pirsig taught [[Rhetoric]] at [[Montana State University]] and, with the encouragement of an older colleague, decided to explore what exactly was meant by the term ''[[Quality]]''. He assigned his students the task of defining the word. This, coupled with a [[Native American Church]] [[peyote]] ceremony he attended with an anthropologist friend, [[James Verne Dusenberry]], led Pirsig into what he called "a mushroom cloud of thought."{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Pirsig began developing his ideas about Quality in his first book, ''Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'', and expanded and codified his ideas into the MOQ in ''Lila''. == Quality == "Quality," or "value," as described by Pirsig, cannot be defined because it [[empiricism|empirically]] precedes any intellectual constructions. It is the "knife-edge" of experience, known to all. "What distinguishes good and bad writing? Do we need to ask this question of Lysias or anyone else who ever did write anything?" (Plato's ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]'', 258d). Likening it with the [[Tao]], Pirsig believes that Quality is the fundamental force in the universe stimulating everything from atoms to animals to evolve and incorporate ever greater levels of Quality. According to the MOQ, everything (including the [[mind]], [[ideas]], and [[matter]]) is a product and a result of Quality. === Static and Dynamic qualities === The MOQ divides Quality into two forms: [[static]] quality patterns (patterned) and Dynamic Quality (unpatterned). The four patterns of static value as well as Dynamic Quality account exhaustively for all of reality. As the initial (cutting edge) Dynamic Quality becomes habituated, it turns into static patterns. It is important to note that Pirsig is not proposing a duality: Quality is one, yet [[manifest]]s itself differently. ==== Dynamic Quality ==== Dynamic Quality includes everything not static. Dynamic Quality is the force of change in the universe; when this aspect of Quality becomes habitual or customary, it becomes static. Pirsig called Dynamic Quality "the pre-intellectual cutting edge of reality" because it can be recognized before one can think about it. This means that Quality lies in the moment we sense anything during the instantaneous present; with a short delay, we give this impression a static form by describing it as emotions, things, words, etc. These static forms, if they have enough good or bad quality, are given names and are interchanged with other people, building the base of knowledge for a culture. So some cultures divide between things other cultures perceive as equal (Pirsig gave as example the sounds of the Indian syllables "dha" and "da," which are absolutely equal to western ears), and some cultures haven't any words for a specific meaning at all (the exact meaning of the German word "verklemmt" cannot be translated into English). It also explains that the Dynamic beauty of a piece of music can be recognized before reading any static analysis explaining why the music is beautiful. ==== Static quality patterns ==== Pirsig defines static quality as everything that can be conceptualized or recognized as forming patterns. Pirsig further divides static quality into inorganic, biological, social, and intellectual patterns, in ascending order of morality. *Inorganic patterns: non-living things *[[biology|Biological]] patterns: living things *[[society|Social]] patterns: behaviours, habits, rituals, institutions. *Intellectual patterns: ideas Pirsig describes [[evolution]] as the moral progression of these patterns of [[Value theory|value]]. For example, a biological pattern overcoming an inorganic pattern (e.g. bird flight which overcomes gravity) is a moral thing because a biological pattern is a higher form of evolution. Likewise, an intellectual pattern of value overcoming a social one (e.g. [[Civil Rights]]) is a moral development because [[intellect]] is a higher form of evolution than society. Pirsig claimed that the traditional [[Subject Object Metaphysics|Subject-Object Metaphysics]] (SOM) of [[Western philosophy]] and science is problematic because it does not clearly recognize the superior morality of intellect over society, and society over biology, by its artificial distancing of the subject from the object, of fact from value. Pirsig claims that it is the conflict between the newly dominant intellectual patterns and the (previously dominant) social patterns that have led to many of the problems of the 20th century. == See also == * [[Charles Peirce]] * [[Platonism]], [[Plato]] * [[Pragmatism]] * [[Taoism]], [[Tao]] * [[William James]] * [[Energy quality]] * [[Flow (psychology)]] * [[C. S. Lewis]] (esp. [[The Abolition of Man]]) * [[John Dewey]] == Books == * ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values'' (1974) ISBN 0-06-095832-4 * ''Lila: An Inquiry into Morals'' (1991) ISBN 0-553-29961-1 * ''Guidebook to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'' by R. DiSanto and T. J. Steele (1990) ISBN 0-688-06069-2 * ''A Critical Analysis of Robert Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality'' by Anthony McWatt (2004) - for details, see link below. * "Lila's Child: An Inquiry into Quality (2002) ISBN 1-403-35620-3 * Granger, David A.: ''John Dewey, Robert Pirsig, and the Art of Living: Revisioning Aesthetic Education''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. == External links == * [http://www.moq.org/ Metaphysics of Quality page] <!--* [http://grat.dyndns.org/moq/pmwiki.php/ Metaphysics of Quality Wiki Pages] (dead link)--> * [http://www.robertpirsig.org robertpirsig.org - a website containing a number of papers concerned with the Metaphysics of Quality.] * [http://ww2.usca.edu/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/gallery/ Pictures from Robert Pirsig's original 1968 trip upon which Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is based] * [http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/Robert_M_Pirsig.htm Robert M. Pirsig & Quality] [[Category:Metaphysics]] [[Category:Philosophical theories]] [[Category:Robert M. Pirsig]] [[no:Pirsigs kvalitetsmetafysikk]]