I was thinking about thinking

[EternalOptimist]

thinking about thinking - aka Philosophy.

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Rob Pirsig has been panned by another poster as being rubbish.
I actually liked it a lot, it was accessable and relevant

reading the classics just does my swede in, but I like Pirsig.

[DimPrawn]

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.

I thought that was utter crap. Did it cure the misfire on my ZZR 750? Nope.

[sasguru]

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.

I thought that was utter crap. .

WHS.
It was written when the US was the in the grip of a love affair with a misunderstood Eastern mysticism.
If you want to fix your machinery and be at one with it, you'd be better going to an evening class about engines.
No Buddhist ever invented a motor bike.

[doodab]

thinking about thinking - aka Philosophy.

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Rob Pirsig has been panned by another poster as being rubbish.
I actually liked it a lot, it was accessable and relevant

reading the classics just does my swede in, but I like Pirsig.

It's an OK sort of a book. It's not what I would call Philosophy though.

[EternalOptimist]

WHS.
It was written when the US was the in the grip of a love affair with a misunderstood Eastern mysticism.
If you want to fix your machinery and be at one with it, you'd be better going to an evening class about engines.
No Buddhist ever invented a motor bike.

Grasshopper
Does this ‘quality’ of yours exist in the things we observe? Or is it subjective, existing only in the observer?

[sasguru]

Grasshopper
Does this ‘quality’ of yours exist in the things we observe? Or is it subjective, existing only in the observer?

Ah now you're beginning to understand.
In the 60s a lot of left-wingers who weren't too good at maths and science started getting into positions of power. They invented a concept called post-modernism which meant that everything was subjective and your opinion was as good as mine even if I had, say, been trained better and worked harder than you. It was only fair you see. We couldn't have some people being "better" than others.
So the whole idea of expertise (quality) was degraded. and part of that was that the objectivity of science (which had made the country rich, although the chattering classes were too stupid too understand this) was also degraded into being just another value system.

But lets go back to your original question. When a man comes to fix your boiler, you'll understand the concept of quality quite quickly (or not).

[EternalOptimist]

But lets go back to your original question. When a man comes to fix your boiler, you'll understand the concept of quality quite quickly (or not).

so you cant explain it. thats ok grasshopper
for, as Rob says, even an incompetent can still be right

The world’s biggest fool can say the sun is shining, but that doesn’t make it dark out

[Scary]

Some nice pop philosophy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mind%27s_I

Then read all the books the excerpts are taken from.

[sasguru]

so you cant explain it. thats ok grasshopper
for, as Rob says, even an incompetent can still be right

Explain what? Some cod philosophy you got from Pirsig?
Frankly even quoting that BS makes your judgement unreliable.

[EternalOptimist]

Explain what? Some cod philosophy you got from Pirsig?
Frankly even quoting that BS makes your judgement unreliable.

true grasshopper, but

If Quality exists in the object, why can’t scientific instruments detect it?


keep him talking, the men in the white coats are on the way