Can you define Quality? I can't either...

So... Blogging appears to be the "in" thing these days. Given that I am a cultured person that likes to fit in with the crowd, and given that I am an intentional quiet person by nature and a self-proclaimed intellect, I feel it is time to begin expressing my mind's exhaust on a blog such as this for the entire world to read (or, perhaps just my mother and two people that are bored at work and happened upon this blog over a period of a year). Thank you for visiting, by the way. It says a lot when a person stays on a site that might otherwise be passed by.

In today's blog post, I would like to raise the question of what Quality is. I read Robert M. Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," and was intrigued by the inherent inability to truly define quality. Pirsig resolves that quality is something that cannot be defined, but we all know when it exists. He created the Metaphysics of Quality (MOQ) to explain the connection between quality and morality with reality. Pirsig argues that the MOQ is "...a better lens through which to view reality than the traditional dualistic subjective/ objective mindset." Good, I haven't lost you yet... Hang in there, and you might just learn something about philosophy that could change the way you think, believe, and act.

"Quality," or "value" as described by Pirsig, cannot be defined because it empirically precedes any intellectual constructions. It is the "knife-edge" of experience, known to all. "What distinguishes good and bad writing? Do we need to ask this question of Lysias or anyone else who ever did write anything?" (Plato's Phaedrus, 258d). Likening it with the Tao, Pirsig believes that Quality is the fundamental force in the universe stimulating everything from atoms to animals to evolve and incorporate ever greater levels of Quality. According to the MOQ, everything (including mind, ideas, and matter) is a product and a result of Quality. Deep thought, isn't it? Intrigued? Good.

If you want to look into this concept more, wikipedia has a great starting point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirsig