How do we know whether one thing is better than another? This may seem like a benign question, but think about that for a minute. When making decisions about something we need, whether it’s a new car, new shoes, or the food we eat we bring into the decision our opinions, ideas, and biases. Usually, we have a range of ‘quality’ (whatever that is) that we think is appropriate. This is largely driven by budget…
I became sort of obsessed with the idea of quality after reading Robert Pirsig’s ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’. Not that it matters but at one time this was the best selling philosophy book in the world. Which is kind of weird because it’s really just a story about a guy who goes ‘crazy’ trying to define what quality is. I’m not trying to drive myself or anyone else crazy, but I think…
Quality is one of those words we think we understand but I’m going to argue that we really don’t. Quality is about the inherent characteristics of an item or idea. But instead of assessing these characteristics we tend to describe quality in terms of how the item makes us feel or whether we like it or not. I argue that our assessment of quality is often nothing more than our opinion. Which is fine, but…