Hullo Ryan,
I'm the devil's advocate in this forum, the devil being Ken Wilber, and I
suggest that his "A Brief History of Everything" is the best introduction to
his thought. I find his "No Boundary" a particularly insightful book, though
it is an early one and he would want to change a few emphases now.
Some people feel Wilber and Pirsig are close relatives in thought, while
others see Wilber as mired in a subject/object worldview. The more I read
him the more his thought impresses, but it is not so simple as Pirsig's.
Wilber argues that metaphysics is too often "thought without evidence". In
the end, I think this is often fair criticism of Pirsig. I compare Wilber's
achievement with that of Darwin. Darwin spent years looking at the natural
world, and many more years thinking about what he saw, and produced a theory
that explained what he saw better than the alternatives on offer. Wilber has
studied the world of human understanding, and picked out the generalisations
that make the most sense of the most theories. Some people say he is
unoriginal, but this is to miss the point entirely. Where Darwin studied
nature, he studies human ideas.
He is also relatively easy reading, though he has not put his ideas into the
form of a novel, as Pirsig did.
I thought you made a fair point in your response to Roger, and agree with
much of what you said.
John B
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