Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values

by Robert M. Pirsig

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Pirsig frames a cross-country motorcycle trip as an investigation into 'Quality,' the prereflective value he argues underlies both classical reason and romantic appreciation. Weaving autobiography, philosophy of technology, and a reading of Greek thought, Pirsig challenges the subject-object dualism he traces to Aristotle.

Published:: 1974
Pages:: 540

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In this collection, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values references 4 other books.

It draws on The Republic, Nicomachean Ethics and Beyond Good and Evil.

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What This Book Draws On

The books Pirsig references and why each one mattered to the argument.

Plato's dialogues, especially the Phaedrus, are central to Pirsig's narrative; his Metaphysics of Quality is developed in explicit dialogue with Platonic metaphysics

References

The Republic

by Plato

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Pirsig critiques Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Aristotelian metaphysics at length, arguing the subject-object mindset he attributes to Aristotle has crippled Western thought

References

Nicomachean Ethics

by Aristotle

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Pirsig's romantic/classical dichotomy is modeled on Nietzsche's Dionysian/Apollonian distinction from The Birth of Tragedy

References

Beyond Good and Evil

by Friedrich Nietzsche

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Eastern philosophy, including Taoism and the Tao Te Ching's notion of the nameless source, informs Pirsig's concept of Quality as prior to subject-object division

References

The Tao Te Ching

by Lao Tzu

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