A review of the work on architecture as a reflection and shaper of society through history with a focus on religion in Ancient Greece and Muslim culture.
1,125 words (approx. 4.5 pages), 1 source, 2000, $ 39.95
Abstract "Apart from possessing a functional and ornamental value, architecture also tells the story about the character and the culture of the society, thus reflecting the spirit of the people and the age. Even though historians tend to consider only public monuments and majestic buildings as "architecture," the architecture that is most representative of the society consists of ordinary and drab buildings (Kostof 15). Although they cannot be considered esthetically pleasing to the eye, their value rests in their reflection of the reality of the ordinary people. As Spiro Kostof points out in his book, A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals, the images of the history of the South are incomplete without including the "slave cabins, out houses, herb gardens, and water vats" (15
From the Paper "Apart from possessing a functional and ornamental value, architecture also tells the story about the character and the culture of the society, thus reflecting the spirit of the people and the age. Even though historians tend to consider only public monuments and majestic buildings as "architecture," the architecture that is most representative of the society consists of ordinary and drab buildings (Kostof 15). Although they cannot be considered esthetically pleasing to the eye, their value rests in their reflection of the reality of the ordinary people. As Spiro Kostof points out in his book, A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals, the images of the history of the South are incomplete without including the "slave cabins, out houses, herb gardens, and water vats" (15). Although these structures can hardly be considered beautiful, they constitute..."
From the Paper "In his theory of art, John Dewey emphasizes the importance of continuity within the art object. In this regard, Dewey seems to be insisting that organic unity is the essence of all aesthetic experiences. According to Dewey, a work of art is an experience in which meanings or values "are expressed, or shown, rather than stated or said". As such, art stimulates an experience which can be said to be "qualitative" in nature. Dewey considers art to be a very special kind of experience, or consummatory experience. A consummatory experience can be defined as one which is both fulfilling and satisfying. In his 1934 book "Art as Experience", Dewey claims: "Such an experience is a whole and carries with it its own individualizing quality and self-sufficiency". Bernstein relates the consummatory ... "
Abstract Apart from possessing a functional and ornamental value, architecture also tells the story about the character and the culture of a society, thus reflecting the spirit of the people and the age. The paper shows that the architecture that is most representative of a society consists of ordinary and drab buildings. Although they cannot be considered esthetically pleasing to the eye, their value rests in their reflection of the reality of the ordinary people. The paper evaluates several buildings and cities such as Ancient Greek cities, the Great Mosque of Kairawan and the city of Chicago. It shows the important role architecture plays in every society, not only because it reflects the society of its time, but also because it has the power to influence the people.
From the Paper "As a part of the City Beautiful Movement started to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus? discovery of America, Chicago was transformed by Daniel Burnham who was appointed director of the project. The transformation included the creation of a lakefront park system, an inner harbor and a civic center. According to Burnham, the redevelopment of the city served an important purpose in creating uniformity and order against the chaotic development of a city affected by massive immigration of people with different cultures. Thus, to him, the orderly city would reinforce an American order over the diversity of cultures (Kostof 671). However, in this case, the City Beautiful Movement failed because it was more concerned with the aesthetic ideal than the lives of the people in the city. The City Beautiful Movement limited itself to changing public facilities, but did not seek to improve the housing needs of the poor. Therefore, it produced architecture that was divorced from the actual reality of the ordinary people it sought to represent."
Abstract This paper looks at the life and the effects that we feel today of Corbusier. This biographical paper looks at his beginnings and early influences to understand this genius. For better or worse, the architect known as Le Corbusier changed the face of our cities. Along with Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright, Corbusier epitomizes modernism. Can, however, the future be built without standing on the shoulders of the past? Corbusier was a devotee of the esthetic of the machine and still he regarded the Parthenon as a pinnacle of architectural achievement. He believed in the Renaissance notion of man being at the center of creation and yet, built houses that men could not live in. Le Corbusier may have been designing square pegs for round holes but in the end, there was a direct line, for him, between the Parthenon and modernism.
Abstract The paper reviews Robert Browning's life, and notes key works he wrote at various points in his career. The paper analyzes a number of Browning's poems, and for each one cites critical passages pointing to a major theme of the work. The paper concludes that Robert Browning was one of the major moral-aesthetic thinkers of the 19th century, who believed that imperfection, which is what separates Heaven from Earth and God from man, is the law of life.
From the Paper "In Browning's best poems, people from the past reveal their lives and thoughts by speaking aloud. A typical Browning poem tells of a key or pivotal moment in the life of a prince, priest, or painter of the Italian Renaissance. A few of Robert Browning's common themes are about Man's relationship to God verses his fellow man, infinities are unattainable to man in his present state of imperfection, and imperfection is the law of life."
Tags: moral, aesthetic, esthetic, imperfection, man, god
Abstract This paper explains that Leon Tolstoy in "What is Art?" argues that
art is not the manifestation of an abstract and absolute idea, such as beauty, God or simply something created to give pleasure, as generally purported by most of the thinkers and philosophers, but rather is intimately connected with the religions and moral values of every age and of every people. The author points out that both art and religion can reveal a different, absolute reality; but it cannot be agreed that good art should strictly follow religious and moral values. The paper stresses that saying art is only supposed to express the religious idea of good denies the most important quality of art--- imagination. The paper includes several quotations.
From the Paper "As you say it yourself, art can serve to unite people and to realize that brotherhood of man, just like religion, through its ideas of goodness and morality. But it is likewise obvious that good art can give an account of the varied human experience and if it speaks, as you say, of nudity, sexuality or adultery, it does nothing more than to relate about human passions or emotions. I think the subject of a certain piece of art should not be confused with its final purpose. And it is to be noticed that a piece of literature, for example, which is replete with "immoral" ideas can produce the same state of elevation of the soul, just like the one that praises moral or Christian virtue. I think the most important fact is that art can reveal the truth and it does this by means of an aesthetic revelation, no matter its particular nature."
Abstract The paper relates that Sophocles' work, "Oedipus Rex", is one of the essential myths of mankind and is so fundamental that it transcends and defies any strictly literary interpretation. The paper focuses on the extraordinary coincidences that form the plot of the play and shows how this work is an unanswerable riddle. The paper concludes that unlike another deviation or tragic situation that would probably only cause disgust, it is appreciated and re-used by culture precisely because of its mythical and highly esthetic quality.
From the Paper "Sophocles' work is at once the paragon of the Greek classical tragedy, one of the essential myths of mankind and a great esthetic achievement. Furthermore, the too well-known plot has been made by Freud into a landmark theory of psychoanalysis. The power of the Oedipus story then comes from the archetypical and riddle-like significance of the events described. The work is so fundamental that it transcends and defies any strictly literary interpretation. The extraordinary and ineluctable coincidence which forms the plot of the play is the core of its fundamental significance. The tragedy knows no respite and no resolution for itself; it is an unanswerable riddle, where all the elements converge at different points. The story is at once paradoxical and uncongenial with any simple interpretation."
