framework
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framework:cartesian-mechanistic-world-viewCartesian / Mechanistic World-view
The dominant model of space as neutral, mechanistic, and composed of independent parts; critiqued throughout.
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Claims (2)
claim
- Epistemological priority: the felt life of a center is more basic than the geometric properties that support it.
- Defends the life-of-space concept against the mechanistic worldview by appealing to direct experience.
Chapters (1)
chapter
- The chapter presents the unity of ornament and function, arguing that all function is derived from living centers in space, and introduces the idea of space itself having varying degrees of life.
Related by similarity (8)
cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edgeEntities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.
- The worldview Alexander is critiquing: objective structure of the world is separate from human feeling and happiness
- Alexander's proposed alternative: wholeness of the world and feeling of happiness together form a single unity
- The modern scientific worldview that resists the idea of objective life in space.
- The dominant scientific world-picture treating matter as inert, lifeless mechanism obeying mathematical laws, originating with Bacon, Descartes, Newton.
- The method of observing the world as if it were a machine, separating the observer from the observed, leading to mechanistic knowledge.
- The scientific method that requires observation by any observer and excludes subjective states, argued to be inadequate for measuring life.
- The dominant scientific paradigm Alexander seeks to supplement: observation of limited machine-like events from an external, self-excluded standpoint
- Traditional efficient causation paradigm; Juarrero argues it is inadequate for understanding intentional action and self-organizing systems.