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.
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