“Logic presumes a separation of subject from object; therefore logic is not final wisdom. This is Zen. This is my motorcycle maintenance.”

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Robert M. Pirsig photo
Robert M. Pirsig 164
American writer and philosopher 1928–2017

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“Although motorcycle riding is romantic, motorcycle maintenance is purely classic.”

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), Ch. 6
Context: The romantic mode is primarily inspirational, imaginative, creative, intuitive. Feelings rather than facts predominate. "Art" when it is opposed to "Science" is often romantic. It does not proceed by reason or by laws. It proceeds by feeling, intuition and esthetic conscience. In the northern European cultures the romantic mode is usually associated with femininity, but this is certainly not a necessary association.
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“Invention is not the product of logical thought, even though the final product is tied to a logical structure.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

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Original German version: Während dieses Jahres in Aarau kam mir die Frage: Wenn man einer Lichtwelle mit Lichtgeschwindigkeit nachläuft, so würde man ein zeitunabhängiges Wellenfeld vor sich haben. So etwas scheint es aber doch nicht zu geben! Dies war das erste kindliche Gedanken-Experiment, das mit der speziellen Relativitätstheorie zu tun hat. Das Erfinden ist kein Werk des logischen Denkens, wenn auch das Endprodukt an die logische Gestalt gebunden ist. ("Autobiographische Skizze", p. 10)
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Context: During that year in Aarau the question came to me: If one runs after a light wave with [a velocity equal to the] light velocity, then one would encounter a time-independent wavefield. However, something like that does not seem to exist! This was the first juvenile thought experiment which has to do with the special theory of relativity. Invention is not the product of logical thought, even though the final product is tied to a logical structure.

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“A study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself.”

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Vol. IV, par. 5
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