claim

active

claim:the-environment-built-since-the-1950s-is-ugly-and-lifeless-because-cartesian-measurement-excludes-the-measurement-of-life

The environment built since the 1950s is ugly and lifeless because Cartesian measurement excludes the measurement of life.

A causal explanation for the failure of modern architecture.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Frameworks (1)

framework

Cartesian Method
contradicts
The scientific method that requires observation by any observer and excludes subjective states, argued to be inadequate for measuring life.

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.

We see then that life, as it occurs in buildings or in works of art, can be measured. But it can only be measured, or estimated, in a way which relies on the degree of development, or enlightenment, of the observer.quote0.784
A key methodological statement encapsulating the chapter's conclusion.
Life, as it occurs in buildings or in works of art, can be measured, but only by a method that relies on the degree of development or enlightenment of the observer.claim0.776
The fundamental methodological conclusion of the chapter.
The absence of life we recognize as a familiar problem of the past century comes about because the processes which create objects, artifacts, buildings, neighborhoods, agriculture, forests, towns, roads, bridges - nearly all fail to have the character of unfolding wholeness.claim0.771
Diagnosis of modern lifelessness.
The degree of life is not merely a distinction between beautiful and ugly things but is detectable in every corner of the world.claim0.766
Broadens the scope of life from aesthetics to a fundamental property.
The Cartesian method of observation, by forbidding inclusion of the observer's self, systematically excludes awareness of the different degrees of life in spaceclaim0.765
Alexander's critique of Cartesian epistemology as structurally incapable of perceiving living structure
Buildings made with an eye to the past will most often fail to have living structure, because the process of historical reproduction somehow turns vivid, living structure sour.claim0.760
Argues that copying historical forms does not produce living structure.
Value in architecture can be objective and real, not merely subjective; the degree of life in buildings is a fact that can be observed.claim0.759
A direct challenge to the second and third tacit assumptions, fundamental to Alexander's view of building.
The health or lack of health of various places in a neighborhood, meter by meter, is widely recognized, felt more or less the same by everyone, and is an objective reality — not a matter of opinionclaim0.754
Alexander's assertion that neighborhood quality assessment is objective, supported by Yodan Rose's study.