罗伯特·梅纳德·波西格

罗伯特·梅纳德·波西格（Robert Maynard Pirsig，1928年9月6日—2017年4月24日），美国作家与哲学家。

生平

1928年出生在明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯，父亲是梅纳德·派里奇，有德国和瑞典血统。他最著名的作品是1974年所著的《禅与摩托车维修艺术》（Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (ZAMM)）一书，该书在全球销量达五百万本以上。

Robert Maynard Pirsig (September 6, 1928 – April 24, 2017) was an American writer and philosopher. He is the author of the philosophical books Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974) and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991), and he co-authored On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Selected and Unpublished Writings (2022) along with his wife and editor, Wendy Pirsig.

Early life, family and education

Pirsig was born on September 6, 1928, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Harriet Marie Sjobeck and Maynard Pirsig. He was of German and Swedish descent. His father was a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, taught in that school from 1934, served as its dean from 1948 to 1955, and retired from teaching there in 1970. Pirsig senior subsequently taught at the William Mitchell College of Law until his retirement in 1993.

A precocious child with an alleged IQ of 170 at age nine, Pirsig skipped several grades at the Blake School in Minneapolis. In May 1943, he was awarded a high school diploma at age 14 by the University High School (later renamed Marshall-University High School), where he had edited the school yearbook, The Bisbilla.

Pirsig studied biochemistry at the University of Minnesota. In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, he describes the central character, thought to represent himself, as being an atypical student, interested in science in itself rather than as a professional career path.

In the course of his studies, Pirsig became intrigued by the multiplicity of putative causes for a given phenomenon, and increasingly focused on the role played by hypotheses in the scientific method and sources from which they originate. His preoccupation with these matters led to a decline in his grades and expulsion from the university.

In 1946, Pirsig enlisted in the United States Army and was stationed in South Korea until 1948. Upon his discharge from the military, he lived for several months in Seattle, Washington, and then returned to the University of Minnesota, earning his bachelor's degree in 1950. He and his wife worked at the Nevada Club in Reno, Nevada, and saved enough to move to Acayucan, Mexico, with the intent to write a great book.

He subsequently studied philosophy at Banaras Hindu University in India and the Committee on the Analysis of Ideas and Study of Methods at the University of Chicago. In 1958 he earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota.

Career

In 1958, he became a professor at Montana State University in Bozeman, and taught creative writing courses for two years. He was friends with Bob DeWeese and Gennie DeWeese there. Shortly thereafter he taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Pirsig's major published work consists of two books: the better known Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) and its follow up Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991).

In the mid- to late 1960s, Pirsig was working as a technical writer for Northern Pump (which became Northern Ordinance). In 1968, he had the idea to write an essay about how he went about fixing motorcycles and how it related to what he knew about Zen religious ideas. This grew into a synopsis for the novel. Pirsig had difficulty finding a publisher at this stage, pitching the idea for his book to 121 different publishers. He sent them a cover letter along with two sample pages; twenty two of which responded favourably. William Morrow and Company gave Pirsig a US$3000 advance for the project. In July 1968, he went on the road trip, with his son Chris, that greatly informed the book.