Robert Pirsig

Robert Pirsig (September 6, 1928-April 24, 2017) was born in Minneapolis in 1928. He attended the Blake School in Minneapolis and then entered the University of Minnesota to study biochemistry at age fifteen. When he was expelled for poor grades, Pirsig enlisted in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Korea before returning home in 1948. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota before travelling to India to earn a degree in Eastern Philosophy from Banaras Hindu University. He also did graduate work at the University of Chicago and the University of Minnesota, eventually earning a degree in journalism in 1958. He went on to teach creative writing.

After a troubled period in his life, Pirsig wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a book inspired by a road trip he took with his son. Despite initial rejections by publishers, it was an instant bestseller. In this book, Pirsig discusses quality and metaphysics in Western culture. Its follow-up, Lila: An Inquiry into Morals, also discusses metaphysics.