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laurencjay 's review for:
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
by Robert M. Pirsig
I have always been interested in reading this book for the exact reason the author describes in it's afterword. He denotes the book a "kulturbarer," a Swedish word for "culture-barer," which in this instance, describes the book as one that defines a generation. The problem I discovered while reading this book is there is a big disconnect between the experiences of my generation and the experiences of the author.
Speaking first to his more general outlines of specific philosophers such as Kant, Hegel, and Hume, anyone that hasn't taken a philosophy course will certainly find it useful and interesting information, however those who have read a significant amount of philosophy will find those sections to be re-hashed. Pirsig eventually ties together his philosophical analysis to make his point about "Quality" and its existence as a universal, undefinable term. The problem I have with this argument is that Pirsig could have easily made his point in much fewer pages. I understand he probably went into more depth in order to give more weight to his main character's (Phaedrus) downfall, but it caused his rhetorical arguments to become increasingly tedious.
The one point I think this generation can really connect to is the need to separate oneself from technology and experience your surroundings. The problem I have here is he didn't really describe this point to that great of an extent, instead taking the time to hammer in his fundamental point, the difference between technological and romantic viewpoints.While technological and romantic viewpoints are an interesting lense through which to analyze society, from my personal experience, the gap between the technological and the romantic viewpoints is becoming increasingly small with the rise of computer-based careers such as graphic design, web design and computer engineering which require a balance of both artistic and technological skill.
While I will say the book's structure of going back and forth between Phaedrus' experiences and the motorcycle trip was interesting, content wise I was unsatisfied.
Speaking first to his more general outlines of specific philosophers such as Kant, Hegel, and Hume, anyone that hasn't taken a philosophy course will certainly find it useful and interesting information, however those who have read a significant amount of philosophy will find those sections to be re-hashed. Pirsig eventually ties together his philosophical analysis to make his point about "Quality" and its existence as a universal, undefinable term. The problem I have with this argument is that Pirsig could have easily made his point in much fewer pages. I understand he probably went into more depth in order to give more weight to his main character's (Phaedrus) downfall, but it caused his rhetorical arguments to become increasingly tedious.
The one point I think this generation can really connect to is the need to separate oneself from technology and experience your surroundings. The problem I have here is he didn't really describe this point to that great of an extent, instead taking the time to hammer in his fundamental point, the difference between technological and romantic viewpoints.While technological and romantic viewpoints are an interesting lense through which to analyze society, from my personal experience, the gap between the technological and the romantic viewpoints is becoming increasingly small with the rise of computer-based careers such as graphic design, web design and computer engineering which require a balance of both artistic and technological skill.
While I will say the book's structure of going back and forth between Phaedrus' experiences and the motorcycle trip was interesting, content wise I was unsatisfied.