John Shelly

Summary Response #3 Scott Consignya discusses Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in his publication “Rhetoric and Madness: Robert Pirsig’s Inquiry into Values.” Consignya discusses Pirsig’s formula of wholeness and reason which creates a way out of personal disaster. He claims that the public magnification of the crisis demands an engagement in a task, resulting in struggling with the technological world instead of disregarding it. If we learn from Pirsig’s example of a like situation, then we obtain wholeness, understanding and growth. Consignya divides his journal into four parts, all creating a description of Robert Pirsig’s question into values through slightly persuasive writing. The first section is “The Crisis of Reason”, which describes the crisis of technology demanding a response. The response is to “cut through the current inadequate formulations of ‘problems’ in the crisis in order to reveal its real disjunctions.” This basically means that we must ignore our previous assumptions and have an open mind. The next part is “A New Paradigm of Rationality” followed by “The Commonplace.” These two are about having identification and understanding to circumstances and quality being a standard for subjectivity and objectivity. Finally, Consignya discusses “Rhetoric Wholeness.” Here, Consignya claims that struggling and working with a crisis results in wholeness, and a wider understanding of the solution to the crisis. Appreciation of things is not limited essentially, therefore, presumptions should not be made, rather being open minded and creating a “new model of reason.”

Works Cited
Consignya, Scott. "Rhetoric and Madness: Robert Pirsig's Inquiry into Values." Southern Speech Communication Journal 43.1 (1977): 16-32. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.