Philosophy of architecture

Last updated

Philosophy of architecture is a branch of philosophy of art, dealing with the aesthetic value of architecture, its semantics and relations with the development of culture.

Contents

History

Early history

Plato, whose influence on architecture is widely documented (e.g., 'idealism', 'neo-Platonic' architecture [1] ), may be counted as part of a classical geometric model of cosmology, the popularity of which could be attributed to earlier thinkers such as Pythagoras. In early history, philosophers distinguished architecture ('technion') from building ('demiorgos'), attributing the former to mental traits, and the latter to the divine or natural. The presence of some degree of formalism continues to be an important trait in distinguishing one architectural style from another, and thus in distinguishing the philosophy of a style.

Due to the nature of critique, the philosophy of architecture is an outgrowth of the philosophy of art, which began to be expressed in books on architecture and history of architecture during the latter half of the twentieth century. [2] Prior to that, largely because of its reliance on technology and engineering, architecture was seen as incompatible, or beneath, the proper subject areas of classical aesthetics as delimited by, notably, Immanuel Kant and Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, with their ideal of "pure art." [2]

Modern period

Panopticon. Drawing by Jeremy Bentham in 1791. Panopticon.jpg
Panopticon. Drawing by Jeremy Bentham in 1791.

As it was noted by postmodern philosopher Michel Foucault, the architecture is able to set the life of society, and therefore it is particularly important for understanding of the person's values and culture. In "Discipline and Punish," Foucault analyzed contemporary culture through comparisons to the Panopticon. The Panopticon, designed by Jeremy Bentham would be a special transparent environment for prisoners, where everyone would be under constant surveillance. Although the project was not realized, Bentham's thought deeply influenced the ideology of prisons, changing social practices of punishment. Simultaneously with its main conclusions, Foucault reached other goal - his instrumental use of architecture in cultural studies showed the potential of this philosophical theme.[ citation needed ]

However, philosophy of architecture as a full-fledged part of the Philosophy of Art would not have been possible without the Avant-garde`s shift of the aesthetic paradigm. Art, set in the conditions of mechanical reproduction of the image, was forced to look for new ways. Around the same time architectural styles of Constructivism and Functionalism find way to justify new, totally engineering aesthetics. Side of the architecture, which had been considered a shame (as a sign of its connection with the pragmatic needs of man and society), became a major advantage, central part of new system of aesthetic values. Cubism and Futurism set aesthetic, full of mechanized, slaughtered, brutal forms, what was very close to the same engineering ideal. All this created more than favorable environment to change status of architecture in our system of art, as well as our understanding of art by itself.[ citation needed ]

Postmodernism

Photography "Stuyvesant Town - Peter Cooper Village," according to Martin R. it is an architectural work, which may serve as one of the first manifestations of postmodernism Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village crop.jpg
Photography "Stuyvesant Town - Peter Cooper Village," according to Martin R. it is an architectural work, which may serve as one of the first manifestations of postmodernism

Architecture assumed a much more significant role after establishing of the phenomenon of Postmodernism. According to R. Martin "it remains surprising how many influential accounts of cultural postmodernism make reference to architecture." [3] Some scholars go so far as to claim that the entire post-modernism comes from the practice of architecture, and the rejection of "style of Modern" as an architectural style, and by so architects terminologically formulated postmodernism. Thus, F. Jameson writes that "it is in the realm of architecture, however, that modifications in aesthetic production are most dramatically visible, and that their theoretical problems have been most centrally raised and articulated (...) it was indeed from architectural debates that my own conception of post-modernism (...) initially began to emerge." [4] As it was noted by researchers, "Barthes and Eco, taking their cue from Russian Formalism, see norm breaking as the mark of the aesthetic (sc., the aesthetic code). Art is characteristically inventive in its capacity to have signs do duty as signifier of further meanings in a potentially endless play upon convention as well as within it or on its margin." [5] So important to postmodern writers like R. Barthes and U. Eco, saw architecture as a source of revolutionary innovations in art. [5]

The Luxor Casino in Las Vegas formed the basis for Robert Venturi's post-modernist manifesto and has played a key role in the development of post-modernism according to F. Jameson The Luxor From Airport.jpg
The Luxor Casino in Las Vegas formed the basis for Robert Venturi's post-modernist manifesto and has played a key role in the development of post-modernism according to F. Jameson

F. Jameson believes that there is a special relationship between postmodernism and American architecture, in which the birth of a national architecture coincided, in his opinion, with the emergence of the terminology or even the reality of postmodernism. [6] However, not all researchers agree with his post-modern "architectural origins," so Andreas Huyssen, suggests that the conceptual frame of postmodernism has been defined within certain movements of literature. However, this researcher also notes the special role of architecture in the development of post-modernism. Martin describes, that "Huyssen credits architecture with helping to disseminate the term postmodernism, originally from literature, into the expanded aesthetic sphere during the 1970s." [3] Lyotard contends that postmodern architects have nothing in common with true Postmodernism [3] and, as Lyotard states it in his article, Answering the Question: What Is Postmodernism?: "under the name of postmodernism, architects are getting rid of the Bauhaus project, throwing out the baby of experimentation with the bathwater of functionalism." [7]

A special figure for the philosophy of architecture can be considered the architect Robert Venturi, whose books may have played a no lesser role in the development of postmodernism, than his stylistic experiments in architecture. R. Venturi first lead attention of architects to pop-art. In his rejection of architectural modernism, Venturi gave rise to the new cultural setting. By this Venturi showed a deep connection between civilization and architectural forms. [8]

Wittgenstein and philosophy of architecture

A photo of Wittgenstein House Wittgenstein haus.jpg
A photo of Wittgenstein House

The Wittgenstein House is considered one of the most important examples of interactions between philosophy and architecture. Built by renowned Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, the house has been the subject of extensive research about the relationship between its stylistic features, Wittgenstein's personality, and his philosophy. [9] [10] [11] [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and the nature of taste; and functions as the philosophy of art. Aesthetics examines the philosophy of aesthetic value, which is determined by critical judgements of artistic taste; thus, the function of aesthetics is the "critical reflection on art, culture and nature".

Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourse characterized by skepticism towards elements of the Enlightenment worldview. It questions the "grand narratives" of modernity, rejects the certainty of knowledge and stable meaning, and acknowledges the influence of ideology in maintaining political power. The idea of objective claims is dismissed as naïve realism, emphasizing the conditional nature of knowledge. Postmodernism embraces self-referentiality, epistemological relativism, moral relativism, pluralism, irony, irreverence, and eclecticism. It opposes the "universal validity" of binary oppositions, stable identity, hierarchy, and categorization.

Postmodern philosophy is a philosophical movement that arose in the second half of the 20th century as a critical response to assumptions allegedly present in modernist philosophical ideas regarding culture, identity, history, or language that were developed during the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment. Postmodernist thinkers developed concepts like difference, repetition, trace, and hyperreality to subvert "grand narratives", univocity of being, and epistemic certainty. Postmodern philosophy questions the importance of power relationships, personalization, and discourse in the "construction" of truth and world views. Many postmodernists appear to deny that an objective reality exists, and appear to deny that there are objective moral values.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postmodern art</span> Art movement

Postmodern art is a body of art movements that sought to contradict some aspects of modernism or some aspects that emerged or developed in its aftermath. In general, movements such as intermedia, installation art, conceptual art and multimedia, particularly involving video are described as postmodern.

Postmodernity is the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist after modernity. Some schools of thought hold that modernity ended in the late 20th century – in the 1980s or early 1990s – and that it was replaced by postmodernity, and still others would extend modernity to cover the developments denoted by postmodernity. The idea of the postmodern condition is sometimes characterized as a culture stripped of its capacity to function in any linear or autonomous state like regressive isolationism, as opposed to the progressive mind state of modernism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-François Lyotard</span> French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist

Jean-François Lyotard was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and postmodern art, literature and critical theory, music, film, time and memory, space, the city and landscape, the sublime, and the relation between aesthetics and politics. He is best known for his articulation of postmodernism after the late 1970s and the analysis of the impact of postmodernity on the human condition. Lyotard was a key personality in contemporary continental philosophy and authored 26 books and many articles. He was a director of the International College of Philosophy founded by Jacques Derrida, François Châtelet, Jean-Pierre Faye, and Dominique Lecourt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sublime (philosophy)</span> Quality of greatness

In aesthetics, the sublime is the quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual, or artistic. The term especially refers to a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement, or imitation.

In art history, formalism is the study of art by analyzing and comparing form and style. Its discussion also includes the way objects are made and their purely visual or material aspects. In painting, formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape, texture, and other perceptual aspects rather than content, meaning, or the historical and social context. At its extreme, formalism in art history posits that everything necessary to comprehending a work of art is contained within the work of art. The context of the work, including the reason for its creation, the historical background, and the life of the artist, that is, its conceptual aspect is considered to be external to the artistic medium itself, and therefore of secondary importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postmodern architecture</span> Architectural style that emerged in the late 1950s

Postmodern architecture is a style or movement which emerged in the late 1950s as a reaction against the austerity, formality, and lack of variety of modern architecture, particularly in the international style advocated by Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock. The movement was introduced by the architect and urban planner Denise Scott Brown and architectural theorist Robert Venturi in their 1972 book Learning from Las Vegas. The style flourished from the 1980s through the 1990s, particularly in the work of Scott Brown & Venturi, Philip Johnson, Charles Moore and Michael Graves. In the late 1990s, it divided into a multitude of new tendencies, including high-tech architecture, neo-futurism, new classical architecture, and deconstructivism. However, some buildings built after this period are still considered postmodern.

This is an alphabetical index of articles about aesthetics.

Post-postmodernism is a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture which are emerging from and reacting to postmodernism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deconstructivism</span> Postmodern architectural movement since the 1980s

Deconstructivism is a postmodern architectural movement which appeared in the 1980s. It gives the impression of the fragmentation of the constructed building, commonly characterised by an absence of obvious harmony, continuity, or symmetry. Its name is a portmanteau of Constructivism and "Deconstruction", a form of semiotic analysis developed by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Architects whose work is often described as deconstructivist include Zaha Hadid, Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Bernard Tschumi, and Coop Himmelb(l)au.

Richard Shusterman is an American pragmatist philosopher. Known for his contributions to philosophical aesthetics and the emerging field of somaesthetics, currently he is the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at Florida Atlantic University.

In the visual arts, late modernism encompasses the overall production of most recent art made between the aftermath of World War II and the early years of the 21st century. The terminology often points to similarities between late modernism and postmodernism, although there are differences. The predominant term for art produced since the 1950s is contemporary art. Not all art labelled as contemporary art is modernist or post-modern, and the broader term encompasses both artists who continue to work in modern and late modernist traditions, as well as artists who reject modernism for post-modernism or other reasons. Arthur Danto argues explicitly in After the End of Art that contemporaneity was the broader term, and that postmodern objects represent a subsector of the contemporary movement which replaced modernity and modernism, while other notable critics: Hilton Kramer, Robert C. Morgan, Kirk Varnedoe, Jean-François Lyotard and others have argued that postmodern objects are at best relative to modernist works.

Espen Hammer is Professor of Philosophy at Temple University. Focusing on modern European thought from Kant and Hegel to Adorno and Heidegger, Hammer’s research includes critical theory, Wittgenstein and ordinary language philosophy, phenomenology, German idealism, social and political theory, and aesthetics. He has also written widely on the philosophy of literature and taken a special interest in the question of temporality.

Hugh J. Silverman was an American philosopher and cultural theorist whose writing, lecturing, teaching, editing, and international conferencing participated in the development of a postmodern network. He was executive director of the International Association for Philosophy and Literature and professor of philosophy and comparative literary and cultural studies at Stony Brook University, where he was also affiliated with the Department of Art and the Department of European Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. He was program director for the Stony Brook Advanced Graduate Certificate in Art and Philosophy. He was also co-founder and co-director of the annual International Philosophical Seminar since 1991 in South Tyrol, Italy. From 1980 to 1986, he served as executive co-director of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy. His work draws upon deconstruction, hermeneutics, semiotics, phenomenology, aesthetics, art theory, film theory, and the archeology of knowledge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture</span> Product and process of planning, designing and constructing buildings and other structures

Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings or other structures. The term comes from Latin architectura; from Ancient Greek ἀρχιτέκτων (arkhitéktōn) 'architect'; from ἀρχι- (arkhi-) 'chief', and τέκτων (téktōn) 'creator'. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilisations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to aesthetics:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold Berleant</span> American scholar and author

Arnold Jerome Berleant is an American scholar and author who is active in both philosophy and music.

<i>Lessons on the Analytic of the Sublime</i> 1991 book by Jean-François Lyotard

Lessons on the Analytic of the Sublime is a 1991 book about the philosopher Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment (1790), focusing on Kant's description of the sublime, by the French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard. The book received positive reviews following the appearance of its English translation in 1994.

References

  1. ↑ Hendrix, John Shannon (1999). "Neoplatonic Philosophy and Roman Baroque Architecture". The European Studies Journal. University of Northern Iowa. 16 (1): 31–60.
  2. 1 2 Harries K. (Winter 1987). "Philosophy and the Task of Architecture". Journal of Architectural Education. 40 (2): 29. doi:10.2307/1424928.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Martin R. "Architecture's Image Problem. Have We Ever Been Postmodern." Grey Room, No. 22 (Winter, 2006), p. 7.
  4. ↑ Jameson F. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. 2003. p. 2.
  5. 1 2 Donougho M. The Language of Architecture // Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), p. 65.
  6. ↑ Jameson F. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. 2003. p. 97.
  7. ↑ Lyotard J.-F. Answering the Question: What Is Postmodernism? // Lyotard J.-F. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. 1984. p. 71.
  8. ↑ Martin R. Architecture's Image Problem. Have We Ever Been Postmodern // Grey Room, No. 22 (Winter, 2006), pp. 9-11.
  9. ↑ Himmelfarb G. "Jeremy Bentham’s Haunted House." Victorian Minds. (Knopf, 1968).
  10. ↑ Tilghman B.R. "Ludwig Wittgenstein, Architect." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Vol. 53 (Fall)., Wijdeveld P. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Architect. (MIT Press, 1994).
  11. ↑ Wilson S.J. "The Play of Use and the Use of Play: an Interpretation of Wittgenstein’s Comments on Architecture." Architectural Review. 180.1073 (July 1986).
  12. ↑ Macarthur, David (2014). "Working on Oneself in Philosophy and Architecture: A Perfectionist Reading of the Wittgenstein House". Architectural Theory Review. 19 (2): 124–140. doi:10.1080/13264826.2014.951869.]

Further reading

Literature

Philosophical analysis of Wittgenstein's architecture

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.