In Toward a New Architecture, what does Le Corbusier mean by “sight?” He means both physical eyesight and metaphorical insight, and he moves back and forth between those meanings smoothly but not always clearly or consistently. First, I have a few general notes. Corbusier praises engineering for its adherence to math/efficiency, which “puts us inContinue reading “Eyes That Do Not See”
Category Archives: philosophy
3 More Darlings
Another semester has gone into the books, and I am pleased to say by dint of great struggle, most of my students managed to avoid the temptations and cliches (and OK, maybe I encouraged them very strongly) that were driving me a little crazy the previous semesters. However, they were not completely immune to jumpingContinue reading “3 More Darlings”
You Get One Question
In response to my common in-class refrain about the goals of ancient philosophy, which tried often to define “the good life” and tell us how to get there, one of my students recently asked me what the core question of modern philosophy is. My first hunch was that it’s something like “How can we sayContinue reading “You Get One Question”
Showdown: Beauty vs Presence
“Architecture is not about beauty; it is about presence.” These words, pinned to the wall as inspiration by local architecture students, along with a citation suggesting that this is something they’ve heard from their studio teacher, make me uneasy.