Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values in Metafilter

Jan 01, 2009 Tasshin Fogleman rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, autodidactism2010

I decided to re-read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance after having read Plato and Aristotle and school this year, to see if Pirsig's interpretations of them agreed with what I had read.

This book is confused, as it wants to be a work of both literature and philosophy; I suspect this is why the book has not received academic recognition and befuddles most of the reviewers here. The narrator explains this confusion at one point: "I suppose if I were a novelist rather than a Chautauqua orat I decided to re-read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance after having read Plato and Aristotle and school this year, to see if Pirsig's interpretations of them agreed with what I had read.

This book is confused, as it wants to be a work of both literature and philosophy; I suspect this is why the book has not received academic recognition and befuddles most of the reviewers here. The narrator explains this confusion at one point: "I suppose if I were a novelist rather than a Chautauqua orator I'd try to "develop the characters" of John and Sylvia and Chris with action-packed scenes that would also reveal "inner meanings" of Zen and maybe Art and maybe even Motorcycle Maintenance. That would be quite a novel, but for some reason I don't feel quite up to it. They're friends, not characters, and as Sylvia herself once said, 'I don't like being an object!'"

I find the use of an unreliable narrator / transfer very interesting, though, so it is of some literary merit.

As far as the philosophy goes: It's important to ask why Pirsig refuses to answer the question "What is Quality?", why he says defining Quality is impossible. How is Quality different from virtue (hehe) or justice or beauty or any other abstract noun? They, too, are difficult to define. What makes Quality so special? Pirsig makes some very questionable statements, like Quality is reality and buddha and God and the good. It's hard to take seriously (even if you can separate yourself from the literary aspect and look purely at the philosophy) because he is so dogmatic and seems to think Quality solves everything. Some of the points he makes are interesting (like the Greek arete being excellence, not virtue) and his criticisms of Plato (which are legitimate, I think. Socrates is a bit of a Sophist, whether Plato likes it or not), but others, like calling Aristotle bland / useless, or suggesting that the Great Books in general are worthless, are statements which I simply cannot defend.

I remember thinking that Lila was a bit more insightful and interesting, and enjoying it more; but I am tired of Pirsig and don't really want to re-read it just now. ...more

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