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Lila

Summary

Robert Pirsig's sequel to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, developing his Metaphysics of Quality through a river journey narrative. Introduces the distinction between Dynamic and Static Quality and applies it to anthropology and cultural theory.

Core Contribution

Formal elaboration of the Metaphysics of Quality (MOQ); the Dynamic vs. Static Quality distinction; critique of anthropological relativism and the Victorian morality debate.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Metaphysics of Quality
  • Dynamic vs. Static Quality
  • river journey narrative
  • anthropology critique

Historical Influences

William James F.S.C. Northrop Ruth Benedict Margaret Mead

Intellectual Lineage

Robert Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance William James F.S.C. Northrop

Allied Works

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert PirsigThe Meeting of East and West by F.S.C. Northrop

Contemporaries & Peers

Being and Time Richard Rorty's work

Minds Influenced

MOQ communityphilosophy of culture readers

Intellectual Posterity

Metaphysics of Quality communityphilosophy of technology

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Lila

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