[MD] The Meaning of Life

[david buchanan]

Calling all MOQers:

My thesis advisor is teaching an introductory philosophy this fall, the theme and title of which will be "the meaning of life". He has invited me to teach one of the classes on Pirsig's work, as a kind of guest lecturer. He asked me to select a passage or section to be included on the syllabus as a reading assignment for the students. I picked chapter 16 and 17 of ZAMM. (This is the part with the classroom scenes wherein Phaedrus is trying to get his students to realize that they know what Quality is even though it can't be defined.)

To help the students see what to look for and think about when they read the assignment, the syllabus will provide a few clues and thematic questions. The clues for the ZAMM reading will go like this: "Robert Pirsig says that definitions are the foundation of reason, that we can't reason without them, and yet he refuses to define the central term in his argument. Despite the fact that you can't say exactly what it is, "Quality" is the goal of every creative person and without it life would hardly be worth living, he says. What is Pirsig saying about the relationship between creative intelligence and getting an "A" in life? What does he say about following the rules and seeing for yourself?"

Why am I telling you this? Because I'm shamelessly fishing for ideas. (Maybe I should have gone fishing before picking the passage and writing the clues.) These two chapters present the MOQ's basic distinction between defined quality (static rules and principles and concepts) and undefined Quality but this is the first, concrete phase of his journey. He's not yet getting metaphysical or mystical. It's just about good writing and that's a good thing because we're talking about a basic, introductory course. On the other hand, the writing lesson is a kind of metaphor for life in general. It's about NOT being a slave to the rules. It's about NOT imitating or parroting. It's about the dull conformist with the thick-lensed glasses who learns to see for herself. It's about being soulful and sensitive and caring. It's about NOT being a square.

Can you imagine how a student new to philosophy will react to these chapters without reading the rest of the book? What's a reasonable expectation in terms of their comprehension level? What sorts of questions will they ask? What questions does the passage raise for you? What's your favorite point or moment in those chapters? How would you answer the thematic questions and clues. Would you give different clues or pick a different passage, which doesn't even have to be from ZAMM by the way. I had considered the part of Lila where he says that the intellectual search for the meaning of life is really just a recent fad and is not something the intellect is equipped to do, but I thought the classroom scenes and the questioning of the whole university grading system would be something that undergrads could relate to on a personal level. You know, because it's about their present situation as students who have to write papers.

Or maybe I should have picked all those "dirty" passages in Lila and hired an over-perfumed prostitute to join me as a visual aid. Darn! I think it might be too late to switch at this point.