Robert M. Pirsig

Novelist, author of:

• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Value (1974)
• Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991)

Pirsig created the Metaphysics of Quality (MOQ) to explain the connection between quality and morality with reality. Both books claim that the topic they are exploring cannot be precisely defined because of our limited experience. A parallel is trying to explain what lies outside an infinite universe - humanity struggles to understand how something can go on forever, let alone how there can be something beyond that. So each book takes the form of a semi-autobiographical story, mixing discussion of the topic with anecdotes and comparisons meant to highlight important aspects of the topic.

A website (http://www.moq.org) exists to discuss Pirsig's MOQ.

Beyond his MOQ, the books are also popular in several other roles:

• as a history or summary of philosophy
• as an reply to anti-technology movements
• as an introduction in thinking in general
• as a skeptical book, questioning everything from our languge, to the education system, to the scientific method
• as a complaint at the low level of craftsmanship in modern trades

He coins several phrases that deserve mention. For example, he said that his book was luckily successful because it happened to be a culture-bearing book. He called the fields of metaphysics and philosophy the high country of the mind, and so forth (please add examples).