Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance -...

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - The Reconciliation of Western and Eastern Philosophy The differences in Western and Eastern philosophy are marked. Eastern thinking has slowly become â€Å"discovered† by the West; meanwhile, the development of Western thought and philosophy has come under close scrutiny by modern and postmodern philosophers and thinkers as being flawed at its core. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger came to the conclusion that â€Å"Western philosophy is a great error† (Barrett xi). The manner in which Western thought was founded, the course of its development, and its incursion into every facet of life in the Western world has been and is now being questioned on all fronts by leading critics and thinkers.†¦show more content†¦Although Pirsig never states it explicitly, this concept is the point of reconciliation between Eastern and Western philosophy, and indeed, its effects would be seen in every facet of life. The idea that nature itself can be divided rationally into ordered systems is inherently Western in origin. That implies that a system of concepts exists to explain the world, the universe. The â€Å"structure of concepts† is called a hierarchy, and broken down even further, is a system of divisions, or distinctions (Pirsig 97). Pirsig asserts that this has been a â€Å"basic structure for all Western knowledge† ( 97). How this Western way of thinking came about could be an entire Philosophy course in itself. A short explanation must be described, however, in order to make sense of the rest of this paper. According to William Barrett, what we call Western traditions in thinking really stem from two cultural backgrounds, Hebrew and Greek, both of which are â€Å"profoundly dualistic in spirit† (ix). That is, they â€Å"divide reality into two parts, setting one division off against the other (Barrett ix). The Hebrews did it on the basis of morality and religion, separating God from Creation, flesh from spirit, right from wrong. The Greeks divide along the basis of philosophical and intellectual lines. It was Plato who almost â€Å"single-handedly† established Western philosophy (Barrett ix). Plato â€Å"absolutely cleaves reality into the world of the intellect and the world of the senses†Show MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 PagesLeale Sen ior Production Project Manager: Kelly Warsak Senior Operations Supervisor: Arnold Vila Operations Specialist: Ilene Kahn Senior Art Director: Janet Slowik Interior Design: Suzanne Duda and Michael Fruhbeis Permissions Project Manager: Shannon Barbe Manager, Cover Visual Research Permissions: Karen Sanatar Manager Central Design: Jayne Conte Cover Art: Getty Images, Inc. Cover Design: Suzanne Duda Lead Media Project Manager: Denise Vaughn Full-Service Project Management: Sharon Anderson/BookMastersRead MoreExploring Corporate Strategy - Case164366 Words   |  658 Pageshow a small player survives in a globalising market. ST Electronics – total quality management for business excellence. Sony (A) – a diverse hi-tech multinational responds to change with repeated reorganisations. Arts Council – changes in structure and responsibilities in funding the arts in the UK. Tetra Pak – success through a project-based organisation structure. Fed-Ex – packaging new business models to deliver competitive advantage. Forestry Commission – from forestry management to service provider:Read MoreContemporary Issues in Management Accounting211377 Words   |   846 PagesBromwich has made. He played an important role in the diffusion of modern practices of capital investment appraisal in the United Kingdom. He has been constantly open to the insights which advances in economic theory can provide into the accounting art, in many areas pushing at the frontiers of international knowledge in his own quiet way. In the area of costing, Michael has undoubtedly deepened our understandings of both conceptual and practical issues, in recent years providing a voice of reason