claim

active

claim:nature-always-produces-living-structure-because-it-follows-a-process-of-unfolding-wholeness-human-designers-can-create-non-living-structure-by-violating-this-process

Nature always produces living structure because it follows a process of unfolding wholeness; human designers can create non-living structure by violating this process.

Core distinction between natural and designed configurations, explaining why properties are ubiquitous in nature but rare in bad design.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Concepts (1)

concept

Wholeness
associated_with
Alexander's core concept rejecting the idea that a whole consists of parts; instead, a whole makes its parts (called 'centers').

Chapters (1)

chapter

Chapter 6: The Fifteen Properties In Nature
supports
This chapter argues that the fifteen properties appear ubiquitously in natural systems, supporting the thesis that living structure is a fundamental property of nature, not just artifacts.

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

In nature the principle of unfolding wholeness creates living structure nearly all the time. Human designers, who are not constrained by this unfolding, can violate the wholeness if they wish to, and can therefore create non-living structure as often as they choose.quote0.918
Encapsulates the distinction between natural and human-made order, central to Alexander's critique of contemporary architecture.
The existence of living structure, as defined in The Nature of Order, requires modifications in our physical picture of the world, not only in the picture we have of architecture.claim0.871
The closing claim of the chapter's mid-book appendix, asserting that the theory of centers has implications for physics.
Life and living structure will appear in the world inevitably because the mathematical way space gives rise to structure necessarily reinforces wholeness as part of its most normal evolution.claim0.861
Alexander's strongest ontological claim: living structure is not probabilistically improbable but mathematically necessary given the principle of unfolding wholeness
The creation of living structure cannot be done in any other way.claim0.860
Nature manages to create structures that are members of C_living by way of structure-preserving transformations.claim0.858
The structures where life occurs just cannot be made in any other way.quote0.843
Categorical assertion about the necessity of the living process.
If it is a living process, it will create beautiful geometric structure. If it does not create beautiful structure, it cannot truly be a living process.claim0.842
Beauty and geometry are the talisman by which a living process is known.
Living structure is at once structural and personal, uniting objective and subjective and potentially bridging the bifurcation of nature described by Whitehead.claim0.840
From the concluding Part Two interlude, asserting a synthesis of science and feeling.