Being Modern vs Being True

The tension between making something that looks contemporary and making something that is genuinely from the heart; Alexander argues we are cut off from ourselves by the demand to be modern.

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Claims (2)

claim

The cable-stay bridge is actually alienating; it does not root me in myself, it takes me out of myself and leaves me cold and fearful.
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Alexander's aesthetic and existential judgment on the competing bridge design.
We are cut off from ourselves, and cut off from the I, to a very great degree.
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Diagnosis of the modern condition: the confusion between being modern and being true reflects a deep disconnection from the self.

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.

Truthfulness vs. Honesty Distinctionconcept0.718
Distinction between output accuracy (truthfulness) and alignment of outputs with internal beliefs (honesty)
"To live is to be other. It's not even possible to feel, if one feels today what he felt yesterday..."concept0.713
Fernando Pessoa epigraph capturing the core paradox: persistence requires change, yet change threatens identity.
True Liking (vs Superficial Liking)concept0.710
The genuine, deep pleasure that comes from the whole person and childish truthfulness—distinguished from wilfulness, professional posturing, or pleasing others' expectations.
For the first time in modern history, ways of thinking are available that make the criteria for 'living' potentially sharable and actually shared.claim0.706
Asserts that the theoretical foundation laid out in the four books provides a public quality standard for sequences.
To live is to be other; feeling today what was felt yesterday is remembering not feelingconcept0.704
The alternative to Modernism in the arts does not consist merely of returning to the past for inspiration but in discovering 'concretely and with a clear mind' what carpet-weavers, artists and builders of the past knew that we do not.claim0.690
Claim about the nature of a genuine alternative to Modernism.
The core of the modern design movement—striving for originality, newness, breaking with tradition—was a structure-destroying force that denied unfolding.claim0.687
Fundamental critique of modernism.
What is truly liked may be different from what is apparently liked; this is a matter of judgment and knowledge, not opinion.claim0.685
The epistemological distinction crucial to the argument.