Psybertron Asks

Robert M Pirsig
author and creator of
“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” (ZMM-1974)
“Lila - an Enquiry into Morals” (Lila-1992)
The Metaphysics of Quality (MoQ)

[Biographical Timeline] [2005 Conference] [Further Links]

Introduction

There are a number of pages and blog posts on Psybertron that are related directly or indirectly to the work of Bob Pirsig and his Metaphysics of Quality. When the Psybertron project started in 2001, there was little indication of the philosophical activist turn it would take, nor that two earlier books I hadn’t yet read would become significant.

They remain significant, not because Bob’s are the last words on the subject, nor are they necessarily entirely original ideas - after all, ideas evolve. However, Psybertron acknowledges the contribution of ZMM, Lila and MoQ to the thought journey.

That journey was described in my 2005 conference paper and presentation slides.

Of lasting significance, in summary, are three things:

• The MoQ as a synthetic view - synthesizing, rather than simply analyzing, the historically recurring dichotomy between things objective, physical & scientific and things subjective, mystical & romantic.
  • Careful with that knife, Aristotle.
• The MoQ as an evolutionary framework - recognizing that synthesis of the physical and the mental, as the evolution of special patterns through dynamic interaction over time.
  • Careful with that meme, Eugene. 
• Man and ideas as inseparable - consistent with the evolutionary process perspective and picking-up on an earlier idea (from Jorn Barger - the original blogger) that any subject of significance and complexity should be presented as a timeline, I created a biographical timeline of Bob’s life. That timeline stands as a biographical resource in its own right, but the process of creating and maintaining it reinforced the view that the context with which to understand a man’s ideas, is the man’s life and motivations.
  • Man and ideas co-evolve.

Recent (2008) News

2008 is the 40th anniversary of the original 1968 motorcycle trip around which ZMM was written.

The first part of Ant McWatt ’s Pirsig documentary film project “Arrive Without Travelling” was released on DVD in January 2008. [My review here].

Publication of Mark Richardson’s book “Zen and Now” is due on September 9th, 2008.

[The Further Links page is being overhauled, and a number of other links on that page and in the blog side-bar will be re-organised onto these new pages.

[Biographical Timeline] [2005 Conference] [Further Links]

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