In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the author talks about human understanding in 2 different categories, romantic and classical. A romantic is more likely to see something as a whole, and then think about it that way. A classical person takes apart the object or idea and puts it into different categories to try and understand it better.
I mostly fit into the romantic category. For example when I see my dad fixing his electric car all I can see are pieces that make the car, I don’t really see the way each one works and how together they can make a car work, in that way I think I am romantic. Also in the book when the narrator was describing how John is romantic because he can’t fix the motorcycle himself and always just wants to bring it to a professional, that is just like me. I don’t like fixing things myself cause I feel like I am always going to break something, like with my laptop, I would rather just bring it to a professional.
I don’t think I fit into the classical category that much because I don’t need to break everything down to understand that it works. I think more like if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, bring it to someone to fix it.
Although I feel like I fit only into one category, I definitely think both ways are valid ways at looking at the world. Having two different ways of human understanding makes people different and therefore makes the world more interesting. Classical thinkers break everything down and think about it more in depth, while romantic thinkers just think about things as a whole. They both are valid and both get the job done.
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I find your way of thinking really interesting and I wish I could see things a bit more romantically. However, if you bring something to someone so they can fix it, isn't that classical? Naturally, they will tell you whats wrong, and that knowledge will force you to break that object down.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say both romantic style of thinking and classical are both valid and useful ways of thinking. I also agree with Tim above when he says that isn't taking the car to a mechanic to fix is classical way of thinking in a since. While your motives to get the car fixed are romantic because you want it fixed and that's it, the mechanic will tell you often times the classical steps he/she took to fix the car.
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