Life

Alexander's broad sense of 'life' as a quality present in waves, fire, and other systems beyond biological creatures; a degree or quality that systems possess.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Thinkers (2)

thinker

Christopher Alexander
studies
Erwin Schrödinger
studies

Claims (1)

claim

In the ship painting, the wholeness generated the details; details were created only to recreate the living wholeness and its light.
associated_with
Description of the author's painting process as a microcosm of a living process.

Concepts (2)

concept

Quality Without A Name
associated_with
Central concept in Alexander's philosophy—an objective, precise but unnamed quality that is the root criterion of life and spirit in buildings, towns, and natural systems.
The wave itself — the system which in present-day science we have considered as a purely mechanical hydrodynamical system of moving water — has some degree of life.
cites
Alexander's definition of 'life' in broad sense, exemplifying how non-biological systems possess vitality.

Chapters (2)

chapter

The Blazing One
mentions
Chapter 6 of Volume 4, The Luminous Ground, by Christopher Alexander. The chapter introduces the I-hypothesis, the plenum of I, and the Blazing One as the ultimate source of life in architecture.
Chapter 9: **The Whole
introduces
This chapter argues that every step in a living process must enhance the whole, using examples from drawing, zoning, St. Mark's Square, canyon design, and painting.