Quality and Intelligence

This week’s reading somehow connected with the discussion we were having in class. I never noticed it before, but now I realize that both Pirsig and Phaedrus are intelligent man who can see both sides to everything. Phaedrus sees both sides to everything such as square and quality or romantic and classical and Pirsig understands what Phaedrus sees. He also knows the in and outs of both sides. However, the fact that Pirsig has a family and friends signifies that he does not see both sides equally and is inclined to one side more than the other.

I am enjoying reading this book because as I read, it makes me stop and think about what Pirsig is saying. The interesting part is that I do not always agree; there are instances where I completely disagree with him. For example, when he states that any effort aiming at self-glorification is destructive, I think he is dead wrong. There is nothing wrong about being motivated to obtain something you want. How is it that the best athletes or business owners or doctors or lawyers became the best? Because they wanted they wanted to, they worked to be the best, they wanted that praise. Although I agree with him that motivation is greater when something other than yourself, the ultimate motivation will always be for oneself. We are innately selfish people and no matter the outcome, we always look to benefit ourselves.  

Another point I found interesting was if quality existed. It is a complicated subject to think about because, at least in my opinion, if you cannot define it, there is nothing you can say about quality because you do not know what it is. Therefore, if you do not know what it is, does it exist? Before I read ahead, I actually stopped and tried to find a way to prove that quality did exist. I mean it is obvious that something’s are better than others, but how or why? It depends on what you use them for and their purpose. So my conclusion was that quality can be anything depending on personal opinion. I would have never thought that the absence of quality on the world would as a result destroy life as we know it. The last sentence seems insane, but it makes sense. Quality causes competition which is basically what our world revolves around.