Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Metaphysics of Quality (MOQ) is a theory of reality introduced in Robert M. Pirsig's philosophical novel, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) and expanded in Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991). The MOQ incorporates facets of Sophistry, East Asian philosophy, pragmatism, the work of F. S. C. Northrop, and Indigenous American philosophy. Pirsig argues that the MOQ is a better lens through which to view reality than the subjective/objective mindset that Pirsig attributes to Aristotle. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance references the Sanskrit doctrine of Tat Tvam Asi ("Thou art that"), which asserts an existential monism as opposed to the subject–object dualism.^[1]