Alexander Pirsig Connection

There are many patterns of thought in the theories of RobertPirsig and ChristopherAlexander that follow very similar paths. A few of these are:

Their use of Quality as an unifying or underlying principle.
Their attempt to integrate Eastern and Western philosophies.
Their focus on events and patterns as primary elements.
Their contention that patterns and events are directly experienced and understandable to all.

The following bold heading have been set up for use for quotes and commentary to illustrate these patterns. Pirsig’s quote pages are from ZenAndTheArtOfMotorcycleMaintenance 25th anniversary edition and the1991 Bantam hardback edition of LilaAnInquiryIntoMorals. Alexander’s quote pages are from the 1979 Oxford University Press addition of TheTimelessWayOfBuilding.

Quality

For both Alexander and Pirsig the question that starts their quests is, “What is quality?” For Alexander, building quality, for Pirsig writing quality. Their individual explorations leads them to similar premises:

Alexander-There is a central quality which is the root criterion of life and spirit in a man, a town, a building, or a wilderness. This quality is objective and precise, but it cannot be named.(TWOB ix) You already know this quality. The feeling for it is the most primitive feeling which an animal or man can have(TWOB p26) It is a subtle kind of freedom from inner contradictions. (TWOB p26)

Pirsig-Quality is the continuous stimulus which our environment puts upon us to create the world in which we live. All of it. Every last bit of it.(ZaMM page 245) Quality is a direct experience independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions. (Lila pp 64) Quality is the primary empirical reality of the world (Lila pp 67)

But it also leads to a divergence. While both acknowledge the dual subjective and objective nature of quality Alexander chooses to accept the underlying philosophy that leads to this, while Pirsig rejects it. Alexander stays focused on his investigation of building quality while Pirsig moves from quality writing to a more basic philosophic quest (see TheMetaphysicsOfQuality). But in the end they both come to similar conclusions. Quality is a unity and a moral order.

Alexander-And because physics has concentrated on very simple systems, like atoms, we have been led to believe that something “is” is an entirely separate question from what it “ought to be”; and that science and ethics can’t be mixed.... But the view of the world which physics teaches, powerful and wonderful as it is, is limited by this very blindness(TWOB 27)

Pirsig-Because Quality “is” morality. Make no mistake about it. They're “identical”. And if Quality is the primary reality of the world then that means morality is also the primary reality of the world(Lila-pp 111)

East and West

Patterns and Events "Pattern" is a word almost synonymous with Alexander and his work. Pirsig also uses it in his. The tie between the two happens when you ask the question of Alexander, "Patterns of what?" Pirsig metaphysical answer is, "Patterns of value." or "Stable patterns of value." ThirdWaveDave

CategoryQuality CategoryPattern