{"id":30489,"date":"2021-03-24T13:10:08","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T17:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=30489"},"modified":"2021-04-01T21:28:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T01:28:58","slug":"zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/","title":{"rendered":"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Phaedrus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is Phaedrus in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance\/\">Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/a><\/em>? What role does he play in the story? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>, Phaedrus is the alter ego of the narrator, Pirsig. Phaedrus&#8217; story is used to help explain larger philosophical ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about <em>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>, Phaedrus, and his role in the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>: Phaedrus and the First Track<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When the book begins, Pirsig and Chris have just left Minneapolis on motorcycles. They are accompanied by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/john-and-sylvia-sutherland\/\">John and Sylvia Sutherland<\/a>, friends of Pirsig, who are riding with the Pirsigs as far as Bozeman, Montana. Whereas Pirsig is an editor of technical manuals, John is a drummer, and their differing attitudes toward motorcycle maintenance provide the impetus for Pirsig\u2019s early <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/chautauqua-meaning\/\">Chautauquas<\/a> on technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the riders make their way west, the Pirsigs\u2019 backstory is slowly revealed. The key plot points are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Some years before the ride, Pirsig suffered a mental breakdown and was institutionalized. He was treated with electroshock therapy, which caused him to forget who he was before the treatment. Through occasional fragments of memory and his own research, he\u2019s been able to get a sense of the person he was before. He calls this person Phaedrus.<br><\/li><li>In <em>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>, Phaedrus was a gifted child who enrolled in college at 15 to study science. He found himself haunted by philosophical questions and eventually flunked out. After a stint in the army, he returned to college to study philosophy.<br><\/li><li>After graduating, again consumed by existential questions, Phaedrus spent years in India studying philosophy. He found Eastern philosophy equally as unsatisfying as Western philosophy and returned to the States. He earned a graduate degree in journalism and wound up teaching rhetoric and composition at Montana State University in Bozeman.<br><\/li><li>His experience teaching led him to the discovery of \u201cQuality,\u201d an indefinable philosophical concept from which (he thought) sprung all of human experience and endeavor. Both for professional and intellectual reasons, he decided to continue researching \u201cQuality\u201d in an interdisciplinary graduate program at the University of Chicago. It was while he was living and studying in Chicago that he suffered his breakdown.<br><\/li><li>Chris has been causing trouble at home lately. He also suffers from chronic stomach aches, but no doctor has been able to find a physical cause. His caretakers fear he\u2019s at risk of a breakdown as well.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In Bozeman, the group stays with an old colleague of Phaedrus named DeWeese. After a few days, the Sutherlands return to Minnesota, and the Pirsigs press on to California. As they near their destination, Pirsig fears that Phaedrus is reviving in his mind and another breakdown is imminent.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the Pirsigs reach California, Chris\u2019s mood is at its nadir. Pirsig feels compelled to have a frank talk with him. He tells Chris that he, Pirsig, was once insane, and that the doctors fear Chris will end up insane as well. (Shortform note: The terminology and overall depiction of mental disorders in the book is dated.) In response, Chris descends into a wailing fit. As Chris rocks and cries, Phaedrus speaks through Pirsig, and Chris responds favorably. When Chris asks if Pirsig was <em>really <\/em>insane, Phaedrus, through Pirsig, says no. Chris suddenly brightens, and the book ends with the Pirsigs cruising along the Pacific coast, reconciled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Two Ways of Thinking<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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, 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: the <em>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em> Phaedrus character wasn\u2019t buried right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 <em>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>: <strong>Phaedrus and the Classical\/Romantic Dichotomy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>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<p>Unlike the Sutherlands\u2014and much like Pirsig himself\u2014Phaedrus viewed the world entirely in terms of its <strong>underlying form<\/strong>. To properly illustrate the qualities of this particular worldview, Pirsig deploys an admittedly broad but useful dichotomy:<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Classical Understanding<\/em><strong><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, <strong>she cares more about how a thing works than how it looks<\/strong>. Motorcycle maintenance, for example, is classical all the way.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Romantic Understanding<\/em><strong><em>. <\/em><\/strong>A romantic, oppositely, is intuitive, emotional, creative, and artistically inclined. <strong>He is more concerned with immediate appearances than underlying forms<\/strong>\u2014he values aesthetics over utility. Motorcycle <em>riding<\/em>, for example, is romantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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<p>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 the <em>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em><strong> <\/strong>Phaedrus character. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Phaedrus in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? What role does he play in the story? In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Phaedrus is the alter ego of the narrator, Pirsig. Phaedrus&#8217; story is used to help explain larger philosophical ideas. Read more about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Phaedrus, and his role in the story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,33],"tags":[242],"class_list":["post-30489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-people","tag-zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Phaedrus - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who is the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Phaedrus character? 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Phaedrus, Pirsig&#039;s alter ego, discusses philosophical ideas.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-24T17:10:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-02T01:28:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/motorcycle-desert-jacket-road-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1603\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Phaedrus\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-24T17:10:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-02T01:28:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/\"},\"wordCount\":1231,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/motorcycle-desert-jacket-road-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/\",\"name\":\"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Phaedrus - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-phaedrus\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/motorcycle-desert-jacket-road-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-24T17:10:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-02T01:28:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"Who is the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Phaedrus character? 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