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Architectural Theory Seminar I

ARCH 652 Phenomenology and Hermeneutics

Prerequisites: This course may be taken with permission from the instructor by M.Arch I students with demonstrated interest in the areas of philosophy and theory.

4 credits

Introduction

Students participating in this seminar are expected to contribute interpretative reports on the assigned readings in about 6 out of 13 weekly meetings. Although the papers need not be fully written out, they will be presented to the class and should be clearly articulated. The assumption is that every week participants will be familiar with the material to carry a meaningful discussion. In addition, all registered students are expected to read the mandatory material marked with asterisks (*). The * refers to the main item in the reading entry. Connections to architecture and its critical problems are always present in our discussions of readings. The duration of each session is about 4 hours, (with a lunch break), and includes time for general discussion. Specific student interests may be accommodated; including the possibility of adding suggested readings for the group.

Themes and Readings

Week 1
Introduction and organization. Distribution of work.

Week 2
A diagnosis of modern culture. Philosophy and public life. An initial approximation. Technology as world-view.

  1. Sennet R., The Fall of Public Man.
  2. *Husserl E., Phenomenology and the Crisis of Philosophy, "Introduction" and "Philosophy and the Crisis of European Man."
  3. Ellul J., The Technological Society, chs.I, II, V, VI.
  4. *Heidegger M., "The Question concerning Technology" in Basic Writings, VII. See also Murray M., ed., Heidegger and Modern Philosophy, Alderman H., "Heidegger's Critique of Science and Technology."
  5. *Pérez-Gómez A., Architecture and the Crisis of Modern science, Intro. & chs. 8, 9 (ref. only).
  6. *Pérez-Gómez ed., Architecture, Ethics, and Technology, IRHA Symposium papers, Intro. and essay by Vesely D. (ref. only).

Week 3
The origins of Western thought: myth and metaphysics.

  1. *Frankfort H., Before Philosophy ch.1. See also Dodds E., The Greeks and the Irrational, chs.I, II, VII, VIII; and Snell B., The Discovery of the Mind, Intro. & chs.1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 (may be subdivided).
  2. Vernant J.P., Myth and Society in Ancient Greece, "The Reason of Myth."
  3. *Plato, Timaeus (Penguin ed.), with Intro. by Lee H.
  4. Aristotle, Poetics, particularly parts I, II, III (mimesis). See also “Introduction’” in M. Heath’s edition of Poetics, and Tatarkiewicz, History of Aesthetics, I.
  5. Vernant J.P., Mythe et pensée chez les grecs, (English tr.available) 2 vols., vol.I, 3 "L'organisation de l'espace," esp. part 1; & vol.II, 4 "Le travail et la pensée technique", esp. part 4. See also Vernant J.P., The Origins of Greek Thought.
  6. *Pérez-Gómez A., "The Myth of Dedalus," in AA Files (ref. only).

Week 4
The scientific revolution.

  1. *Descartes R., Discourse on Method and Meditations (Penguin ed.), and Intro. (may be subdivided).
  2. *Koyre A., Metaphysics and Measurement, chs.I, II, III.
  3. Koyre A., From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe, chs.I, II, III, IV, V. See also Koyre A., Newtonian Studies, chs.1, 3, 4, and Rossi P., Philosophy, Technology and the Arts in the Early Modern Era, chs.1, 2, 3.
  4. Heisenberg W., Physics and Philosophy, Intro. & chs.V, X, XI. See also Friedman A. and Donley C., Einstein as Myth and Muse, chs.3 & 5; and Crary J. and Kwinter S., Incorporations, esp. article by De Landa M.; and Pérez-Gómez A., "Architecture as Science: Analogy or Disjunction," in ANYplace Conference Proceedings, ANY Publications (1994) (may be subdivided).

Week 5
Theory and practice. Introduction to phenomenology.

  1. Lobkowicz, N., Theory and Practice, part one.
  2. Ortega y Gasset J., Some Lessons on Metaphysics. Kockelmans J., Phenomenology. An Introduction, part I, chs.I, III, V.
  3. Arendt H., The Human Condition, Prologue and parts I, II,V, VI.
  4. *Heidegger M., Discourse on Thinking.
  5. Heidegger M., "The Thinker as Poet," "The Thing," "Poetically Man Dwells" and "Language" in Poetry, Language, Thought (may be subdivided). See also Steiner G., Heidegger.

Week 6
The primacy of perception. Radical questioning of gestalt and associationist theories.

  1. Bannan J., The Philosophy of Merleau Ponty, Intro. & part I, ch.1, "The Structure of Behaviour," and Merleau Ponty M., The Primacy of Perception, part I, ch.4.
  2. *Merleau Ponty M., The Primacy of Perception, part I, chs.1, 2, 3.
  3. Merleau Ponty M., Phenomenology of Perception, Intro., chs.1, 2, 3, 4 (several readers).
  4. Van den Berg J.H., Things: Four Metabletic Reflections.

Week 7
Embodied experience, spatiality and the world as perceived. Space. The socio-cultural root of meaning: symbolization.

  1. *Merleau Ponty M., Phenomenology of Perception, part I, ch.3 & part II, chs, 1, 2, 3, 4a (several readers).
  2. Schutz A., Collected Papers I, The Problem of Social Reality, part III, chs.I to V, esp. pp.207 245, 287 305, & 329 340.
  3. *Merleau Ponty M., The Visible and the Invisible, esp. "The Chiasm" and "Working Notes."
  4. *Steiner G., Real Presences, Cambridge University Press (Lecture, 1986). See also his book with same title.

Week 8
Deconstruction and postmodernity. Derrida and Merleau-Ponty on “presence.” Their concepts of time. Baudrillard’s “simulation as reality.”

  1. Taylor M., Deconstruction in Context, Introduction.
  2. Derrida J., "Differance," in Deconstruction in Context and "The Ends of Man," in After Philosophy.
  3. Dillon M.C., Merleau-Ponty Vivant, preface, chs.5 & 8.
  4. Dillon M.C., "Temporality: Merleau-Ponty and Derrida," in Busch T. and Gallagher S. eds., Merleau-Ponty Hermeneutics and Postmodernism. See also Intro. to Part One (hermeneutics) & Part Two (postmodenism).
  5. Dillon M.C., Écart et différence, Merleau-Ponty and Derrida, Intro., chs.1, 6 & 11.
  6. Baudrillard J., Simulations. See also Seduction.

Week 9
Phenomenology and art. Techné as poiesis.

  1. Merleau Ponty M., The Primacy of Perception, part II, ch.5. "Eye & Mind."
  2. Merleau Ponty M., Sense and Non Sense, “Author’s preface,” and part I, chs.1, 4.
  3. *Heidegger M., "Building, Dwelling, Thinking" and "The End of Philosophy," in Basic Writings; "On the Origin of the Work of Art," in Poetry, Language, Thought; and "Art and Space," in Man and World, vol.VI, 1973 (two readers).
  4. *Gadamer H.G., The Relevance of the Beautiful, part I & part II, chs.2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. For context read Pérez-Gómez, “Chora: The Space of Architectural Representation,” in CHORA, vol.1, 1994.

Note: All Merleau-Ponty essays on aesthetics, accompanied by commentary, can also be found in Johnson G., ed. The Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader (Northwestern University Press).

Week 10

  1. Benjamin W., "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," and Intro. by Hannah Arendt in Illuminations.
  2. Paz O., The Bow and the Lyre.
  3. Vattimo G., The Transparent Society, chs.1, 3, 4, 5 & 8.
  4. *Kearney R., The Wake of Imagination, esp. Intro. and conclusion. See also Poetics of Imagining, chs.4, 5, 6 & afterword.
  5. Crary J., Techniques of the Observer.
  6. *Pérez-Gómez A., "Architecture as Embodied Knowledge," JAE, Spring 1987, and "The Modern City: Context, Site or Place for Architecture," in Quantrill M. and Webb B. eds., Constancy and Change in Architecture (ref. only).

Week 11
The historicity of modernity. Introduction.

  1. Rousseau J.J., First and Second Discourse (1750, 1755).
  2. *Nietzsche F., "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life," in Untimely Meditations and aphorisms from The Gay Science.
  3. *Arendt H., "Tradition and the Modern Age" and "The Concept of History," in Between Past and Future (chs.1 & 2).
  4. Gadamer H.G., Philosophical Hermeneutics, chs.1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10.
  5. *Gadamer H.G., Reason in the Age of Science, chs.1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Week 12
Hermeneutics. Interpretation in architectural history and criticism. Narrative.

  1. Palmer R., Hermeneutics, chs.3, 5, 8.
  2. *Ricoeur P., The Conflict of Interpretations, "Existence and Hermeneutics," "The Hermeneutics of Symbols I & II," and "The Question of the Subject."
  3. Ricoeur P., Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences, parts I, II & III, ch.11, & ed.'s Intro. (several readers).
  4. *Ricoeur P., "Life: a Story in Search of a Narrator," in Facts and Values (1986), and "Towards a Hermeneutics of Historical Consciousness," in Time and Narrative, vol.3.

Week 13
The end of the traditional fine arts. Modernity and postmodernity.

  1. Steiner G., After Babel, chs.1, 2, & Afterword.
  2. Ricoeur P., "The Function of Fiction in Shaping Reality," in Man and World 12, 1979.
  3. Paz O., Children of the Mire.
  4. *Vattimo G., The End of Modernity.
  5. *Shattuck R., The Banquet Years, esp. Part One.
  6. *Pérez-Gómez A., Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge “Variation Three” and “Coda.”

Assessment of Candidates

No examination will be given in this course. The mark will be based on the six formal presentations of students to the seminar group and on the participation in discussions around the course material.

A. Pérez Gómez




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