robertpirsig.org : The MOQ Shop

Alchemy at the Chalkface:

Pirsig, Pedagogy and the Metaphysics of Quality

by Alan McManus

The Alchemy at the Chalkface PDF is for sale for $16.

I'm pleased to offer for sale a PDF version of a new PhD examining pedagogy (the Art of teaching!) through the prism of the MOQ by a teacher of over two decades standing:

“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is indeed entertaining. For about the first five pages. After that it becomes engaging as it draws the reader into its complex argument. I recommend that Harvey and Green (and anyone else who decides to pronounce on Pirsig) actually read his work, especially his reflections on Aristotelian dialectic, rhetoric, arête and Hindu/Buddhist dharma. Harvey and Green’s conclusion at least clarifies their inadequate philosophical position to be one of pragmatism:

‘In the last resort quality is a philosophical concept. […] Reaching the conclusion that we might all have different understanding of quality in higher education and that none of us is necessarily wrong or right does not mean, however, that we are absolved of the responsibility of maintaining and enhancing quality. It is merely the adoption of a pragmatic attitude.’ (Harvey & Green/1993/25)

Pirsig provides a beneficial clarification to this ‘pragmatic’ attitude in education and industry which seeks to measure, maintain and enhance a vague and confused value. In his first work, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig posits Quality as the synthesis of idealism & materialism. Lila – his next work (1991) – analyses Quality and finds it constituted by Dynamic Quality and the emergent levels of static patterns of value, which form a moral hierarchy. The context of Pirsig’s work is the origin of the metaphysics which we live by – and may well die by. This medicine and poison was developed by Ancient Greek metaphysicians as a cure for tragedy. Aristotle’s work written after his work on physics was called by a later editor, very pragmatically: Τα Μετά Τα Φσσικά. As this book, ―Metaphysics, concerned ontology, this name was subsequently applied to the body of beliefs, knowledge and conjecture which we have concerning being. This thesis examines this body of evidence and argues for a benevolent reading of Pirsig’s Metaphysics of Quality...”

Dr McManus.

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The Pirsig Letters PDF

The Letters DVD is for sale for $16.

The 180 page compilation of the correspondence between Dr Anthony McWatt and Robert Pirsig from 1993 to 1998. This gives a unique insight into the MOQ when the primary mode of written communication across the Atlantic was by airmail. Ironically, due to the relatively large size of the document, it needs to be posted out as a DVD! This is a comment from one reader:

I have been meaning to give you some feedback on the Pirsig Letters DVD. It is excellent. More food for thought, it has got me reading again: Zen in the Art of Achery and Buddism Plain and Simple; the latter is a real gem.

From: knoxleygreaves@msn.com
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011

The MOQ Film Boxset containing the "On The Road with Robert Pirsig", "The MOQ at Oxford" and the "On The Road with John Sutherland" DVDs. The set now comes with the McWatt-Pirsig Letters DVD as a bonus disc which also includes the Pirsig PhD and MOQ Textbook PDFs.

The Boxset is for sale at $48/£28 for all regions.

(NTSC Versions for$48 including postage)