Robert M. Pirsig
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221061123
2008-06-22T21:58:35Z
Philip Cross
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{{Refimprove|date=May 2007}}
{{Infobox Person
|name= Robert M. Pirsig
|image= 225px-Pirsig2005v2.jpg
|image_size =
|caption= Photograph by Ian Glendinning taken on the eve of the Liverpool conference 7th July 2005
|quotation=
|birth_date= {{birth date and age|1928|9|6}}
|birth_place= [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]], [[United States]]
}}
'''Robert Maynard Pirsig''' (born [[September 6]], [[1928]], [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]]) is an [[United States|American]] [[writer]] and [[philosopher]], mainly known as the [[author]] of the book ''[[Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values]]'' (1974), which has sold millions of copies around the world.
==Life==
Pirsig was Born in [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]], [[USA]]. His father, Maynard, taught at the University of Minnesota Law School from 1934, and served as Dean from 1948 to 1955 before retiring in 1970. Pirsig's mother, Harriet Marie Pirsig (Sjobeck), is of Swedish origin [http://amsaw.org/amsaw-ithappenedinhistory-090604-pirsig.html].
Because he was a [[wikt:precocious|precocious]] child, with an [[IQ]] of 170 at age 9, Pirsig skipped several grades.<ref>{{ cite web | title = Robert M. Pirsig | work = It Happened in History | publisher = American Society of Authors and Writers | url = http://amsaw.org/amsaw-ithappenedinhistory-090604-pirsig.html | accessdate = 2008-02-25 }}</ref> In 1943, Pirsig entered the [[University of Minnesota]] to study [[biochemistry]]. In ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'', he described himself as being far from a typical student. He was an idealist of a sort, interested in science as a goal in itself, rather than as a way to establish a career.
While doing biochemical lab work, Pirsig was greatly bothered by the fact that there was always more than one workable hypothesis to explain a given phenomenon, and that the number of such hypotheses seemed almost unlimited. He could not think of any way around this, and to him it seemed that the whole scientific endeavor had been brought to a halt, in some sense. This question so distracted him that he was dismissed from the university for poor grades.
After serving with the U.S. military in [[Korea]], he returned to Minnesota and completed his B.A. in philosophy in [[1950]]. He then attended [[Banaras Hindu University]] in [[India]] to learn about Eastern philosophy. He also did graduate work in [[philosophy]] at the [[University of Chicago]], but did not obtain a degree. His difficult experiences as a student in a course taught by [[Richard McKeon]] are described, thinly disguised, in ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance''.<ref>The story is recounted in Robert Pirsig, ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'' (New York: Bantam Books, 1974, pp. 329-330). [[Richard McKeon]] can be identified from the context.</ref>
Until the publication of ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'', Pirsig supported himself with freelance work and by teaching freshman [[English studies|English]] and [[rhetoric]] at [[Montana State University]]. An emotional and mental breakdown led him to spend part of the period 1960 – 1963 in and out of mental institutions, where he underwent [[shock therapy]].
Pirsig married Nancy Ann James in 1954. They had two children, Chris (1956) and Theodore (1958). Pirsig and James divorced in 1978. Later that year, he married Wendy Kimball.
In 1979, Pirsig's son Chris — who had played an important role in ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'' — was stabbed to death during a [[mugging]] outside the [[San Francisco Zen Center]]. Pirsig discusses this incident in an afterword to subsequent editions of ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'', writing that he and his second spouse, Kimball, decided not to abort the child she conceived in 1980, because he had come to believe that this unborn child was a continuation of the life pattern that Chris had occupied. This child is Pirsig's daughter, Nell.
Pirsig avoids the public eye. He travels around the [[Atlantic]] by boat, and has resided in [[Norway]], [[Sweden]], [[Belgium]], [[England]], and in various places around the U.S.
==Published material==
Pirsig's work consists almost entirely of two books. ''[[Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance]]'' sets out Pirsig's interpretation of "Quality" and "the Good." It is mostly a first person narrative of a motorcycle trip across North America undertaken with some friends and his son Chris.
Pirsig's publisher's recommendation to his Board ended with "''This book is brilliant beyond belief, it is probably a work of genius, and will, I'll wager, attain classic stature''." In his [[book review]], [[George Steiner]] compared Pirsig's writing to [[Dostoevsky]], [[Herman Broch|Broch]], [[Proust]], and [[Bergson]], stating that "the assertion itself is valid... the analogies with ''[[Moby-Dick]]'' are patent".<ref>George Steiner pp. 147-150 [http://www.mrbauld.com/steiner.html '''Uneasy Rider'''] ''The New Yorker'', [[15 April]] [[1974]]</ref> The ''[[Times Literary Supplement]]'' called it "Profoundly important, Disturbing, Deeply moving, Full of insights, A wonderful book".
In 1974, Pirsig was awarded a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] to allow him to write a follow-up, ''[[Lila: An Inquiry into Morals]]'' (1991), in which he elaborates and focuses on a value-based [[metaphysics]], called [[Pirsig's metaphysics of quality|Metaphysics of Quality]], to replace the [[Subject Object Metaphysics|subject-object view of reality]].
==Metaphysics of Quality==
{{main|Pirsig's metaphysics of quality}}
{{Expand-section|date=June 2008}}
In [[2005]], Dr. Anthony McWatt at [[Liverpool University]], England, organized the first conference on Robert Pirsig's [[Pirsig's metaphysics of quality|Metaphysics of Quality]]. At the same time, Liverpool awarded McWatt the first [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] specifically concerned with the subject.
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://amsaw.org/amsaw-ithappenedinhistory-090604-pirsig.html Pirsig bio] from the American Society of Authors and Writers.
* [http://www.psybertron.org/timeline.html Timeline] of Pirsig's life.
* [http://www.moq.org/ Metaphysics of Quality page.]
* [http://members.tripod.com/~Glove_r/Bohr.html Perceptions of Quality with LILA'S CHILD link.]
* [http://www.robertpirsig.org robertpirsig.org Papers] on the Metaphysics of Quality.
* [http://www.designandscience.org Design and Science] — A website on the relation between Design and Science, using the MOQ. With references.
* [http://robertpirsig.org/Intro.htm Proceedings] of 2005 conference at the University of Liverpool, devoted to Pirsig's work.
* [http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/Robert_M_Pirsig.htm Robert M. Pirsig & Quality]
* [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/8087/moqbooklist.html Lila Squad - Booklist]
* [http://www.almabooks.co.uk/Lila/AboutLila/AboutLila.html Lila.]
* [http://ww2.usca.edu/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/gallery Photographs] from Pirsig's 1968 trip upon which ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'' is based.
* [http://members.aol.com/sktea/pirsig-p.htm Photograph of Pirsig] and the motorcycle he rode in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
* [http://www.bartneck.de/projects/research/pirsig/index.html Aerial View] of Pirsig's route, including texts, audio and books.
* [http://zamm.home.att.net/ ZAMM Travel Route.]
* NPR interviews with Pirsig: [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4612364 Audio: 1974] and [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4612367 Audio: 1992.]
* [http://www.philosophersnet.com/magazine/pirsig_transcript.htm 2005 interview on MoQ.]
* Interview in the ''Observer'' (UK), 19 November 2006: [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1951397,00.html Short version] and [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1952011,00.html Long version.]
* [http://www.zenride.com ZENRIDE.com] 2 Germans re-travelling the Pirsig tour in 2004; incl. Travellogbook and many pictures
* Audio excerpt from [http://www.archive.org/details/RobertPirsigInerviewOnBbcRadio BBC radio program] about cult books.
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[[Category:Robert M. Pirsig|*]]
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American writers]]
[[Category:People from Minneapolis, Minnesota]]
[[Category:University of Minnesota alumni]]
[[Category:Banaras Hindu University alumni]]
[[Category:American philosophers]]
[[Category:20th century philosophers]]
[[Category:Guggenheim Fellows]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]
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