ISBN: 0792745485

Audio Cassette, [EAN: 9780792745488], Sound Library, Sound Library, Book, [PU: Sound Library], Sound Library, In his now classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig b… Plus…

Audio Cassette, [EAN: 9780792745488], Sound Library, Sound Library, Book, [PU: Sound Library], Sound Library, In his now classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig brings us a literary chautauqua, a novel that is meant to both entertain and edify. It scores high on both counts. Phaedrus, our narrator, takes a present-tense cross-country motorcycle trip with his son during which the maintenance of the motorcycle becomes an illustration of how we can unify the cold, rational realm of technology with the warm, imaginative realm of artistry. As in Zen, the trick is to become one with the activity, to engage in it fully, to see and appreciate all details--be it hiking in the woods, penning an essay, or tightening the chain on a motorcycle. In his autobiographical first novel, Pirsig wrestles both with the ghost of his past and with the most important philosophical questions of the 20th century--why has technology alienated us from our world? what are the limits of rational analysis? if we can't define the good, how can we live it? Unfortunately, while exploring the defects of our philosophical heritage from Socrates and the Sophists to Hume and Kant, Pirsig inexplicably stops at the middle of the 19th century. With the exception of Poincaré, he ignores the more recent philosophers who have tackled his most urgent questions, thinkers such as Peirce, Nietzsche (to whom Phaedrus bears a passing resemblance), Heidegger, Whitehead, Dewey, Sartre, Wittgenstein, and Kuhn. In the end, the narrator's claims to originality turn out to be overstated, his reasoning questionable, and his understanding of the history of Western thought sketchy. His solution to a synthesis of the rational and creative by elevating Quality to a metaphysical level simply repeats the mistakes of the premodern philosophers. But in contrast to most other philosophers, Pirsig writes a compelling story. And he is a true innovator in his attempt to popularize a reconciliation of Eastern mindfulness and nonrationalism with Western subject/object dualism. The magic of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance turns out to lie not in the answers it gives, but in the questions it raises and the way it raises them. Like a cross between The Razor's Edge and Sophie's World, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance takes us into "the high country of the mind" and opens our eyes to vistas of possibility. --Brian Bruya, 953650, Zen Philosophy, 953638, Buddhism, 953420, Religion & Spirituality, 927726, Subjects, 916520, Books, 961246, Essays & Travelogues, 961242, Reference & Tips, 960696, Travel, 927726, Subjects, 916520, Books, 930062, Zen Philosophy, 930052, Buddhism, 930046, Eastern, 930040, Philosophy, 5489589011, Politics & Social Sciences, 927726, Subjects, 916520, Books<

ISBN: 0792745485

Audio Cassette, [EAN: 9780792745488], Sound Library, Sound Library, Book, [PU: Sound Library], Sound Library, Arguably one of the most profoundly important essays ever written on the natu… Plus…

Audio Cassette, [EAN: 9780792745488], Sound Library, Sound Library, Book, [PU: Sound Library], Sound Library, Arguably one of the most profoundly important essays ever written on the nature and significance of "quality" and definitely a necessary anodyne to the consequences of a modern world pathologically obsessed with quantity. Although set as a story of a cross-country trip on a motorcycle by a father and son, it is more nearly a journey through 2,000 years of Western philosophy. For some people, this has been a truly life-changing book., 953650, Zen Philosophy, 953638, Buddhism, 953420, Religion & Spirituality, 927726, Subjects, 916520, Books, 961246, Essays & Travelogues, 961242, Reference & Tips, 960696, Travel, 927726, Subjects, 916520, Books, 930062, Zen Philosophy, 930052, Buddhism, 930046, Eastern, 930040, Philosophy, 5489589011, Politics & Social Sciences, 927726, Subjects, 916520, Books<

2006, ISBN: 0792745485

Audio Cassette, [EAN: 9780792745488], Audiobook, Sound Library, Sound Library, Book, [PU: Sound Library], 2006-12-01, Sound Library, 277265, Zen Philosophy, 277260, Buddhism, 58, Religion… Plus…

Audio Cassette, [EAN: 9780792745488], Audiobook, Sound Library, Sound Library, Book, [PU: Sound Library], 2006-12-01, Sound Library, 277265, Zen Philosophy, 277260, Buddhism, 58, Religion & Spirituality, 1025612, Subjects, 266239, Books, 279915, Travel Writing, 83, Travel & Holiday, 1025612, Subjects, 266239, Books<