Alexander's method of observation based on inner feeling

An empirical method that invites the observer to make distinctions based on inner feelings of wholeness, with a framework that guarantees consistency and objectivity.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Thinkers (1)

thinker

Christopher Alexander
studies

Concepts (1)

concept

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

Methods (1)

method

Cartesian method of observation
extends
The method of observing the world as if it were a machine, separating the observer from the observed, leading to mechanistic knowledge.

Chapters (1)

chapter

Chapter 11: The Face Of God
introduces
This chapter argues that the quality without a name is literally God appearing, and that a necessary state of mind for making living things is to offer them as a gift to God.

Conceptual bridges

2-hop · via this method's ideas

Where ideas in this method connect to the rest of the corpus — the same concept, an analogy, or a restatement elsewhere.

Wholeness
~Citta· buddhist

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.

What I am proposing is that these observations of an observer's inner state are not merely a reflection of a person's attitude or psychology, but can actually be used to measure something real about the external world itself.quote0.801
Alexander's most radical epistemological claim stated with maximum directness
The measuring technique of observer inner feeling provides the mainstay of the claim that degree of life is an empirically observable quality in the worldclaim0.794
Concluding methodological claim of §9 linking the measurement technique to the empirical status of life as a world-property
Where Descartes only allowed observation to focus on the outer reality of mechanisms in the world, my method requires that we focus on the inner reality of feeling as well.quote0.791
Core distinction between the two methods stated concisely
Alexander rejects the whole idea of design methods as a subject of study, since it is absurd to separate the study of designing from the practice of design.claim0.787
Steenson's paraphrased quote capturing Alexander's vehement rejection of the Design Methods Movement.
My method requires that we focus on the inner reality of the observer's feeling of wholesomeness as well.claim0.786
Description of the new method's core.
Alexander's experiments showed different people can agree on which actions are more structure-preserving or life-bearingfinding0.779
Repeated experiments demonstrating that people of good will can reach substantial agreement about the life of a design decision.
Aristotle's philosophy articulates concepts closely aligned with Alexander's theory.claim0.778
The observations presented throughout these four books are based on a method of observation which is entirely different from the Cartesian method.claim0.777
Alexander claims his method is a genuine alternative to Cartesian observation.