{"id":240,"date":"2018-08-13T20:26:43","date_gmt":"2018-08-13T20:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/63-tiger-cub\/?page_id=240"},"modified":"2018-08-13T20:26:43","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T20:26:43","slug":"quotes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/63-tiger-cub\/quotes\/","title":{"rendered":"Quotes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quotations and Excerpts of Note<\/h3>\n
\n

The surgeon’s judgement is simultaneously technical and deliberative,\u00a0and that mix is a source of power.\u00a0 This could be said of any manual skill that is diagnostic, including motorcycle repair.” SCAS p. 25<\/p>\n

A washing machine, for example, surely exists to serve our needs, but in contending with one that is broken, you have to as what\u00a0it needs<\/em>.” SCAS p.16<\/p>\n

“The truth, of course, is that\u00a0creativity is a by-product of mastery of the sort that is cultivated through long practice.” SCAS p.51<\/p>\n

“Old bikes don’t flatter you, they educate you” SCAS p.59<\/p>\n

“The consumer is disburdened not only of the fabrication, but of a basic\u00a0evaluative<\/em>activity. (For example, in customizing a car or motorcycle from scratch, the builder must harmonize aesthetic concerns with functional ones, and make compromises so the result isn’t prone to, say,\u00a0catching on fire<\/em>.) The consumer is left with a mere decision.\u00a0 Since the decision takes place in a play-ground safe field of options, the only concern it elicits is personal preference.” SCAS p.70<\/p>\n

START OF EXCERPT FROM ZAMM (about the “classic” approach in contrast to the “romantic” approach) p.76 and beyond\u00a0….<\/p>\n

“His way of looking at things produces a kind of description that can be called “analytic”.\u00a0 That is another name of the classic platform from which one discusses things in terms of their underlying form.\u00a0 He was a totally classic person.\u00a0 And to give a fuller description of what this is, I want to turn this analytic approach back on itself — to analyze analysis itself.\u00a0 I want to do this first of all by giving an extensive example of it and then by dissecting what it is.\u00a0 The motorcycle is a perfect subject for it since the motorcycle was invented by classic minds.”<\/p>\n

“So listen: A motorcycle may be divided\u00a0 for purposes of classical rational analysis by means of its\u00a0component assemblies<\/strong>\u00a0and by means of its\u00a0functions<\/strong>.\u00a0 If divided by means of its component assemblies, its most basic division is into a\u00a0power assembly<\/strong>\u00a0and a\u00a0running assembly<\/strong>. …. To know what the components are for, a division according to functions is necessary: A motorcycle may be divided into\u00a0normal running functions<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0special, operator-controlled functions<\/strong>. Normal running functions may be divided into functions during the\u00a0intake … compression … power … exhaust\u00a0cycles<\/strong>. And so on.”<\/p>\n

“… This description would cover the “what” of the motorcycle in terms of components, and the “how” of the\u00a0engine in terms of functions.\u00a0 … It would badly need a “where” analysis … and a “why” analysis …”<\/p>\n

…. “There are no real subjects in this description. only objects that exist that are independent of any observer. …. Dull, awkward, and ugly.\u00a0 Few romantics get beyond that point.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

END OF EXCERPT<\/p>\n

“… pistons and wheels and gears all moving at once, massive and coordinated” ZAMM p.87<\/p>\n

“The overall name of these interrelated structures, the genus of which the hierarchy of containment and structure of causation are just species, is\u00a0system<\/em>. The motorcycle is a system. A\u00a0real<\/em>\u00a0system.” ZAMM p.101<\/p>\n

“But a person who does machining or foundry work or forge work or welding sees “steel” as having no shape at all. Steel can be any shape you want if you are skilled enough, and any shape\u00a0but<\/em>\u00a0the one you want if you are not.” ZAMM p.103<\/p>\n

START OF\u00a0EXCERPT – ZAMM p.112<\/p>\n

“About this Einstein has said, ‘Evolution has shown that, at any given moment, out of all conceivable constructions, a single one has always proved itself absolutely superior to the rest,’ and let it go at that. But to Phaedrus (a mythical character in ZAMM that is the alter ego of the narrator) that was an incredibly weak answer.\u00a0 The phrase ‘at any given moment’ really shook him.\u00a0 Did Einstein really mean to state that the truth was a function of time?\u00a0 To state that would annihilate the most basic presumption of all science!<\/p>\n

But there it was, the whole history of science, a clear story of continuously new and changing explanations of old facts.\u00a0 ….\u00a0 Some scientific truths seemed to last for centuries, others for less than a year.\u00a0 Scientific truth was not dogma, good for eternity, but a temporal quantitative entity that could be studied like anything else.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

END OF EXCERPT<\/p>\n

“(B)ut conversation is very sticky because the (metal) sculptor is extremely serious and suspicious, evidently because I am not an artist.\u00a0 He acts like I am a detective trying to get something on him, and it isn’t until he discovers that I do a lot of welding that I become okay.\u00a0 Motorcycle maintenance opens strange doors.\u00a0 He says that he welds for the same reasons I do.\u00a0 After you pick up skill, welding gives you a tremendous feeling of power and control over metal.\u00a0 You can do anything.” ZAMM p.162<\/p>\n

“I’ve a set of intructions at home which open up great realms for the improvement of technical writing.\u00a0 They begin ‘Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind’\u00a0… (T)here’s a lot of wisdom in that statement.”\u00a0\u00a0 ZAMM p.164<\/p>\n

“‘But they’re (the assembly instructions) are from the\u00a0factory<\/em>.’ John says. ‘I’m from the factory, too’ I say ‘and I know how instructions like this are put together.\u00a0 You go out to the assembly line with a tape recorder and the foreman sends you to talk to the guy he needs least, the biggest goof-off that he’s got, and whatever he tells you – that’s the instructions.'” ZAMM p.165<\/p>\n

“He singled out aspects of Quality [of writing – some items also apply to motorcycle maintenance and design] such as unity, vividness, authority, economy, sensitivity, clarity, emphasis, flow, suspense, brilliance, precision, proportion, depth, and so on; kept each of these as poorly defined as Quality itself, but demonstrated by the same class reading techniques.\u00a0[That is, students know Quality when they read it or hear it, without it being defined.]\u00a0 He showed how the aspect of Quality called unity,\u00a0the\u00a0hanging-togetherness of a story, could be\u00a0improved with a technique\u00a0called an outline.\u00a0 The authority of an argument could be jacked up with a technique called footnotes, which give authoritative reference.\u00a0 Outlines and footnotes are standard things taught\u00a0in all freshman composition classes, but now as devices for improving Quality, they had a purpose.”\u00a0 ZAMM p.209<\/p>\n

“….motive recognized by Aristotle: ‘All human beings by nature desire to know.'” SCAS p.147<\/p>\n

“How is\u00a0being part of a crew different than being part of a team?” SCAS p.155<\/p>\n

“The master has no need for a\u00a0psychology of persuasion that will make the apprentice compliant to whatever purposes the master might dream up;\u00a0 those purposes are given and determinate.\u00a0 He does the same work as the apprentice, only better.\u00a0 He is able to\u00a0explain what he does to the apprentice, because there are rational principles that govern it.\u00a0 Or he may explain little, then the learning proceeds by example and imitation.\u00a0 For the apprentice there\u00a0is a progressive revelation of the reasonableness\u00a0of the master’s actions.\u00a0 He may not not know why things\u00a0have to be done in a certain\u00a0way at first, and have to take it on faith, but the\u00a0rationale becomes apparent as he gains experience.\u00a0 Teamwork doesn’t have\u00a0this progressive character.\u00a0 It depends on group dynamics, which are inherently unstable and subject to\u00a0manipulation”\u00a0 SCAS p.159<\/p>\n

“The current educational regime is based on a certain view about what kind of knowledge is important: ‘knowing that’ as opposed to ‘knowing how’.\u00a0 This corresponds roughly to universal knowledge versus the kind that comes from individual experience. … Occupations based on universal, prepositional knowledge are more prestigious, but they are the kind that face competition from the whole world as book learning becomes more widely disseminated in the global economy.\u00a0 Practical know-how, on the other hand, is always tied to the experience of a particular person.\u00a0 It can’t be downloaded, it can only be lived.”\u00a0 SCAS p.161<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quotations and Excerpts of Note The surgeon’s judgement is simultaneously technical and deliberative,\u00a0and that mix is a source of power.\u00a0 This could be said of any manual skill that is diagnostic, including motorcycle repair.” SCAS p. 25 A washing machine, for example, surely exists to serve our needs, but in contending with one that is … Continue reading “Quotes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-240","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/63-tiger-cub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/63-tiger-cub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/63-tiger-cub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/63-tiger-cub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/63-tiger-cub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/63-tiger-cub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":241,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/63-tiger-cub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/240\/revisions\/241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/63-tiger-cub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}