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== Criticism ==
== Criticism ==


Criticism has been leveled against the MOQ on two main fronts: 1) reality demands pluralism, 2) if the unknown "Quality" is to be defined even so far as "Dynamic," a "knife-edge" "present" doesn't cut it. For example, a long running discussion on the moq.org website has "David Buchanan," whom Pirsig has tapped as a particularly fine exemplar of one who understands his MOQ, in historically vehement disagreement with the challenge posed by "MarshaV": "Shout balance, harmony, ME." (July 1, 2013)
Criticism has been leveled against the MOQ on two main fronts: 1) reality demands pluralism, 2) if the unknown "Quality" is to be defined even so far as "Dynamic," a "knife-edge" "present" doesn't cut it.<ref>Can Future Actions Influence Past Events? Experiment Mimics Quantum Physics 'Spooky Action Into the Past' http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120423131902.htm</ref> For example, a long running discussion on the moq.org website has "David Buchanan," whom Pirsig has tapped as a particularly fine exemplar of one who understands his MOQ, in historically vehement disagreement with the challenge posed by "MarshaV": "Shout balance, harmony, ME." (July 1, 2013)


== See also ==
== See also ==
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* [[C. S. Lewis]] (esp. [[The Abolition of Man]])
* [[C. S. Lewis]] (esp. [[The Abolition of Man]])
* [[John Dewey]]
* [[John Dewey]]

==References==
{{reflist}}


== Books ==
== Books ==

Revision as of 17:37, 7 October 2013

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 Pirsig's 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 dualistic subjective/objective mindset found in the West.

Development

The Metaphysics of Quality originated with Pirsig's college studies as a biochemistry student at the University of Minnesota. He describes in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance that as he studied, he found the number of rational hypotheses for any given phenomenon appeared to be unlimited. It seemed to him this would seriously undermine the validity of the scientific method. His studies began to suffer as he pondered the question and eventually he was expelled from the university.

After spending some time in Korea as a soldier, Pirsig concluded that Oriental philosophy was a better place to search for ultimate answers. On his return home from Korea, Pirsig read F. S. C. Northrop's book The Meeting of East and West which related Western culture to the culture of East Asia in a systematic way. In 1950, Pirsig continued his philosophical studies at Banaras Hindu University, where he 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."[citation needed] 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

"Dynamic Quality cannot be defined. It can only be understood intellectually through the use of analogy."

Dan Glover, Lila's Child: An Inquiry Into Quality

"Quality," or "value," as described by Pirsig, cannot be defined because it empirically precedes any intellectual construction of it, namely due to the fact that quality (as Pirsig explicitly defines it) exists always as a perceptual experience before it is ever thought of descriptively or academically. Quality is the "knife-edge" of experience, found only in the present, known or at least potentially accessible to all static patterns. (Plato's Phaedrus, 258d). Equating it with the Tao, Pirsig postulates that Quality is the fundamental force in the universe stimulating everything from atoms to animals to evolve and incorporate ever greater levels of Static Quality. According to the MOQ, everything (including ideas, and matter) is a product and a result of Quality.

Static quality patterns and Dynamic Quality

The MOQ maintains that Quality itself is undefinable (Tao), but to better understand it, Pirsig breaks Quality down 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 (viz. data, expectations). It is important to note that Pirsig is not proposing a duality: Quality is one (the Cartesian "homunculus" is "a hopeless fiction"), yet manifests itself differently. Rather than dualism, this manifestation of Quality in terms of Dynamic and static aspects represents a dialectical monism.

Dynamic Quality

Dynamic Quality cannot be defined. It can only be understood intellectually through the use of analogy. It can be described as the force of change in the universe; when an aspect of Quality becomes habitual or customary, it becomes static. Pirsig calls Dynamic Quality "the pre-intellectual cutting edge of reality" because it can be recognized before it can be conceptualized. This is why the Dynamic beauty of a piece of music can be recognized before a static analysis explaining why the music is beautiful can be constructed.

Static quality patterns

Pirsig defines static quality as everything which can be defined. Everything found in a dictionary, for instance, is static quality. 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). Pirsig divides static quality into inorganic, biological, social, and intellectual patterns, in ascending order of morality.

Pirsig describes evolution as the moral progression of these patterns of 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. Therefore, decisions between patterns during any given day can be made using the Metaphysics of Quality.

Criticism

Criticism has been leveled against the MOQ on two main fronts: 1) reality demands pluralism, 2) if the unknown "Quality" is to be defined even so far as "Dynamic," a "knife-edge" "present" doesn't cut it.[1] For example, a long running discussion on the moq.org website has "David Buchanan," whom Pirsig has tapped as a particularly fine exemplar of one who understands his MOQ, in historically vehement disagreement with the challenge posed by "MarshaV": "Shout balance, harmony, ME." (July 1, 2013)

See also

References

  1. ^ Can Future Actions Influence Past Events? Experiment Mimics Quantum Physics 'Spooky Action Into the Past' http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120423131902.htm

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
  • "Lila's Child: An Inquiry into Quality (2002) OCLC 59259846
  • Granger, David A.: John Dewey, Robert Pirsig, and the Art of Living: Revisioning Aesthetic Education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
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