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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values is a work of philosophical fiction written by Robert M. Pirsig. It was published by William Morrow and Company in 1974. It is a Mythologized Mid-life Autobiography of Pirsig’s life up to approximately age 40.

The book draws on Pirsig’s life and intellectual development to showcase Pirsig’s philosophical system, which he called the Metaphysics of Quality and to present critiques of earlier philosophers and their ideas.

Plot

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The primary plot of the book follows a father-son motorcycle trip taken by Pirsig and his son, Chris.

Writing & Publishing History

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Robert Pirsig claimed that it had taken four years to write the book. An insights section of the HarperPerennial Modern Classics edition states that an initial essay regarding motorcycle maintenance was drafted in 1967 while the full volume was completed between 1968 and 1973.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was first published in 1974 by William Morrow and Company (now a part of HarperCollins). Pirsig claimed that it was the best-selling philosophy book of all time.

Philosophical Stance

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Via Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals, Pirsig depicted a philosophical perspective which he termed the Metaphysics of Quality. Pirsig considered his metaphysics to be a breakthrough reconciliation between Eastern and Western philosophies.

At the time of publishing Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig was reluctant to provide a precise definition of Quality within his system. He claimed that this retained the term’s ability to be an instrument of change. Later in his life, he had provided a variety of interpretations. When asked to differentiate Quality from John Dewey’s concept of Experience, he indicated that “Experience is dualistically desired. It presumes an eternal (possible) separation between source of experience and recipient of experience. A person who experiences something is separate and external to the situation he experiences, an observer. Quality is monistically derived. It presumes that the source and recipient of quality are not separate at all. Quality is neither apart from the world or from the self. Nor are the world and self apart when pure quality is recognized, as they are when experience is recognized. By following a discipline of quality one eventually comes to recognize that the world and the self are not separate.“

Zensylvania Podcast

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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance serves as a central touchstone or point of departure for the Zenyslvania podcast. Most episodes of the podcast have either been fully devoted to analysis of the book and its ideas or have included brief references when examining other matter.

This article is intended to serve as a summary of key facts regarding the book as a supplement to the the analysis and speculation contained in the Zensylvania episodes. Transcripts of the episodes are available to Eric Adriaans’ Patreon page.

See Also

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• Footnotes to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Part 1
• Motorcycle Zen
• Quality

References & Notes

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• Pirsig, Robert M. Lila: An Inquiry into Morals. Bantam Books. New York. 1991. ISBN 978-0-553-29961-8.
• Pirsig, Robert M. On Quality: An Inquiry into Excellence. HarperCollins. New York 2022. ISBN 978-0-06-308464-3. Ed. Pirsig, Wenky K.
• Pirsig, Robert M. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. HarperCollings. New York. 1974. ISBN 10: 0-06-083987-2.
• Wikipedia Page on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

External Links

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1. Wikipedia Page on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

^{This page was last edited on 18 December 2022.}

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