[MD] Romantic/Classic knowledge vs quality

[Steve Peterson]

Hi Declan,

Hi Declan,

On Jan 26, 2009, at 4:13 AM, Declan Moran wrote:
>
> In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig spends a lot of
> time discussing romantic and classic knowledge/intelligence. Im not
> sure how Id summarize his main message on them though: that both are
> equally good, and when one (or peoples) neglects one and emphasises
> the other too much, its a bad thing. One should pursue both (equally).
> What was it that the people in the traffic jam (with the empty
> expressions) were lacking: not enough romantic knowledge, and too much
> classic?
>
> Am I missing something?


Steve:
I think that Classical versus Romantic was a way for Pirsig to talk 
about two sorts of people with different dispositions. (I recently read 
James's Pragmatism and thought that James's tough-minded versus 
tender-minded was very similar.) I think that Pirsig reconciles these 
two views to some extent in showing that they both have their own 
aesthetic and that each side of the divide would do well to try to 
develop a taste for the other sort of aesthetic. They are two 
approaches to Quality but are not so exclusive after all because they 
are both about Quality.

How does that sound?

Best,
Steve