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The Metaphysics of Form, Beauty, and Essence: Socrates, Plato, + Aristotle
The Metaphysics of Form, Beauty, and Essence:Socrates, Plato, + Aristotle
What is Metaphysics?
“Meta” = Beyond, Upon, or After
“Physica” = The scientific study of the physical
“Meta”
“Meta” [plus]
“Meta” [plus] “Physica”
“Meta” [equals] “Physica”
The scientific study (or philosophy) of whatis beyond, upon, or after the physical.
The scientific study (or philosophy) of whatis beyond, upon, or after the physical.
The science of the world beyond nature; the Immaterial; the ontological.
What does this have to do with Architecture?
What is Architecture?
Total [Eternal] Architecture
Form, Beauty, Essence, Structure, Function, Site, Nature, Geometry, Religion,Codes, Conventions, City, Client, Law, Society, Culture, Money, Politics,Material, Perception, Art,Philosophy, etc...
A specific instance of architecture, e.g. a building
[can never equal]
[and yet]
[is embedded into]
[is reflected in]
Architecture is a profoundly metaphysical problem.
Socrates
469-399 bce
Socrates One of the founders of Western Philosophy
469-399 bce
Socrates One of the founders of Western Philosophy
Established the Socratic Method
469-399 bce
Socrates One of the founders of Western Philosophy
Established the Socratic Method
The Socratic Method is based on “paradoxical wisdom”
469-399 bce
Socrates
“I know that I know nothing”
469-399 bce
Socrates
“I know that I know nothing”
Protagoras
“Man is the measure of all things”
490-420 bce
469-399 bce
The Sophist
Socrates
Sophists and Political Leaders
“We teach Virtue!”
469-399 bce
Socrates
“What is Virtue?”
469-399 bce
Sophists and Political Leaders
Socrates“Silly Socrates! Virture is doing the Good!”
469-399 bce
Sophists and Political Leaders
Socrates
“OK. Well, what is the Good?”
469-399 bce
Sophists and Political Leaders
Socrates???
469-399 bce
Sophists and Political Leaders
Socrates
“So then how can you teach it?”
469-399 bce
Sophists and Political Leaders
Socrates“Damn!”
469-399 bce
Sophists and Political Leaders
Socrates“You are unreasonable...a corrupting
in�uence!” (i.e.“You’ve made us look like idiots publicly and we’re embarrassed.“)
469-399 bce
Sophists and Political Leaders
Socrates
“What is reason?”
469-399 bce
Sophists and Political Leaders
Socrates“Die.”
469-399 bce
Sophists and Political Leaders
The Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis David (1787). Oil on Canvas
The Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis David (1787). Oil on Canvas
“It sucks that you have to die despite being innocent.”
The Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis David (1787). Oil on Canvas
“Would you rather I die for being guilty?”
Socrates
Socratic Method: A dialectical method ofof inquiry in which a problem is brokendown into a series of questions in orderto filter out contradictions; a negativeform of hypothesis elimination and formation.
469-399 bce
Socrates
Socratic Method: A dialectical method ofof inquiry in which a problem is brokendown into a series of questions in orderto filter out contradictions; a negativeform of hypothesis elimination and formation.
469-399 bce
The elimination of contradictory hypotheses ultimately gets one closer to ultimate truth.
Socrates
“Can we know what virtue is?”
469-399 bce
Socrates
“Yep!”
427-347 bce
469-399 bce
Plato
Socrates
“We just need to DISCOVER its ETERNAL FORM!”
427-347 bce
469-399 bce
Plato
Material (worldly) things change.
427-347 bce
Plato
Material (worldly) things change.
427-347 bce
Plato
Societal/political systems are inconstant flux.
Material (worldly) things change.
427-347 bce
Plato
Societal/political systems are inconstant flux.
Even nature changes.
Material (worldly) things change.
427-347 bce
Plato
Societal/political systems are inconstant flux.
Even nature changes.
But 2+3=5 regardless of whether these things exist or not.
Material (worldly) things change.
427-347 bce
Plato
Societal/political systems are inconstant flux.
Even nature changes.
But 2+3=5 regardless of whether these things exist or not.
Nothing can change contrary to thelaws of MATHEMATICS.
What does this mean?
MATHEMATICAL FORMS such as numbersand geometries exist independentlyof human affairs.
427-347 bce
Plato
MATHEMATICAL FORMS such as numbersand geometries exist independentlyof human affairs.
427-347 bce
Plato
Yet, they are imperfectly reflectedin the world.
MATHEMATICAL FORMS such as numbersand geometries exist independentlyof human affairs.
427-347 bce
Plato
Yet, they are imperfectly reflectedin the world.
Material things have a beginning and an end; they decay.
MATHEMATICAL FORMS such as numbersand geometries exist independentlyof human affairs.
427-347 bce
Plato
Yet, they are imperfectly reflectedin the world.
Material things have a beginning and an end; they decay.
MATHEMATICAL FORMS have no beginning or end; they are infinite.
427-347 bce
Plato
ULTIMATELY,all material/human things(the ‘non-real’) are imperfect reflections,or,instantiations, of ETERNAL FORMS or IDEAL PROTOTYPES (the ‘real’). This is the birthof METAPHYSICS and ONTOLOGY.
VS
384-322 bce
Aristotle
384-322 bce
Aristotle
Forms are not Eternal but rather, material (Biological not Mathematic).
384-322 bce
Aristotle
Forms are not Eternal but rather, material (Biological not Mathematic).
Things have Essential and Accidentalproperties.
Do buildings always have the essential (timeless)properties of Architecture and the accidental (circumstantial) properties of buildings?
384-322 bce
Aristotle
Forms are not Eternal but rather, material (Biological not Mathematic).
Things have Essential and Accidentalproperties.
Essences cannot exist in/as be Plato’s Eternal Forms; they can only exist in/as material things.
What does this mean for Architecture?
