{"id":29734,"date":"2021-03-27T13:30:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-27T17:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=29734"},"modified":"2021-04-01T21:28:22","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T01:28:22","slug":"two-types-of-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/two-types-of-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Types of Thinking and What They Mean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are the two types of thinking? How does Robert Pirsig<\/a> explain these types of thinking in his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/a><\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>, Robert Pirsig explains two types of thinking in the world: classical and romantic. He explains how they’re different, and how to live with both. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about the two types of thinking in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Two Types of Thinking<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pirsig rises at 9:00 am; it\u2019s already too hot to sleep. Licking his wounds from the hard ride the day before, Pirsig walks among the surrounding pines lost in thought. He admits that, as he pursued his Chautauquas<\/a>, he\u2019d hoped he would only have to refer to Phaedrus\u2019s ideas and not the man himself. It\u2019s clear to him now, however, that he cannot avoid talking about Phaedrus personally any longer. He recalls Chris\u2019s American-Indian friend, whose grandmother said ghosts appear only when someone hasn\u2019t been buried correctly. And that\u2019s the problem: Phaedrus wasn\u2019t buried right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presently John and Sylvia rise, and the adults begin packing up and cooking breakfast. Pirsig wakes a resistant Chris by yanking his sleeping bag right out from under him. The adults eat their eggs and bacon; Chris takes one bit of food then says his stomach hurts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breakfast over, the adults finish breaking down camp. As Pirsig loads the last of his gear onto his cycle\u2019s luggage rack, he notices his rear tire is surprisingly worn down. There\u2019s a problem with the chain as well, and he unpacks his tools to make the necessary adjustment. As John watches Pirsig loosen and tighten the axle, he expresses amazement; he says he wouldn\u2019t even know where to start with an adjustment like the one Pirsig is making. Pirsig, exasperatedly, thinks that that<\/em> is the whole reason for the Chautauquas, but he tells himself to stay patient\u2014that John is worth teaching. Soon enough the group is on the road again. It\u2019s a picturesque day, and Pirsig has ample time to return to the Chautauquas and discuss the two types of thinking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chautauqua: Phaedrus and the Classical\/Romantic Dichotomy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phaedrus, Pirsig finally tells us, was a misunderstood and now-forgotten philosopher. In an ideal world, Phaedrus would stay forgotten, but Pirsig believes he must address Phaedrus head on to exorcise and bury him forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the Sutherlands\u2014and much like Pirsig himself\u2014Phaedrus viewed the world entirely in terms of its underlying form<\/strong>. To properly illustrate the qualities of this particular worldview, Pirsig deploys an admittedly broad but useful dichotomy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Classical Understanding<\/em>. <\/em><\/strong>A person of classical understanding is rational, scientific, unemotional, cerebral, and technologically savvy. She is more concerned with the underlying form of things than the appearance of things\u2014that is, she cares more about how a thing works than how it looks<\/strong>. Motorcycle maintenance, for example, is classical all the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romantic Understanding<\/em>. <\/em><\/strong>A romantic, oppositely, is intuitive, emotional, creative, and artistically inclined. He is more concerned with immediate appearances than underlying forms<\/strong>\u2014he values aesthetics over utility. Motorcycle riding<\/em>, for example, is romantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each mode of understanding features in the other. For example, a romantic sees the classical mode of understanding as boring, robotic, overly deliberative\u2014oppressive. A classic, meanwhile, sees the romantic mode as silly, impetuous, irrational\u2014dangerous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two modes are, by all appearances, irreconcilable; and Pirsig traces the tumult of the Sixties to the deep antagonism between the classical (\u201csquare\u201d) and the romantic (\u201chip\u201d). These are some of the differencese between the two types of thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phaedrus\u2019s ideas concerned this perennial divide, but he was ignored, then dismissed, and eventually considered insane. Pirsig opines the insanity was real but caused by people\u2019s opinion of Phaedrus and his ideas rather than an illness. Phaedrus\u2019s end came in the form of an arrest and the permanent removal from society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The riders stop for gas, and Chris says he\u2019s hungry. Pirsig tells him he either eats with everyone else or not at all. Soon enough they\u2019re back on their cycles. The road they\u2019re traveling is in disrepair and there\u2019s traffic; the sun is bright and the weather sweltering. Pirsig escapes the rough riding by meditating further on the classical world of Phaedrus.Chautauqua: Analytic Description<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The classical mode of understanding that Phaedrus subscribed to produces \u201canalytic\u201d descriptions\u2014characterizations and categorizations of things by virtue of their component parts and relationships. For example, take a motorcycle; a motorcycle, at its most basic level, can be divided into two assemblies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n