Architecture and Nihilism: On the Philosophy of Modern Architecture (Theoretical Perspectives in Architectura)

An introduction to the writings of social philosopher Massimo Cacciari. He studies the relation between philosophy and modern architecture and applies the thinking of avant-garde architects, artists and writers to the social and political problems raised by technological society. Contents 5 Preface 7 Introduction: The Philosophy of the City 9 Venice's Spleen 13 Real Allegory 20 Conversations 24 Architectural Theory Against Italian Cultural Tradition 31 The Shock of History 39 The City of Scrambled Alphabets 44 The Fleeting Gaze of the Angel 49 Not a Home But an Adventure 54 PART 1: The Dialectics of the Negative and the Metropolis 61 1. Metropolis 63 2. On the German Sociology of the City at the Turn of the Century 83 3. Merchants and Heroes 102 4. Negative Thought and Artistic Representation 116 5. Essay and Tragedy 127 6. The City as Essay 147 PART 2: Loos and His Contemporaries 159 7. Loosian Dialectics 161 8. The Contemporaries 180 9. The Oikos of Wittgenstein 191 PART 3: Loos and His Angel 201 10. Loos and His Angel 203 11. Being Loyal 210 12. The Other 216 13. Tabula Rasa 221 14. The New Space 226 15. The House 235 16. Lou's Buttons 239 17. The Chain of Glass 247 18. Of Progress and Pioneers 251 19. On Loos's Tomb 255 Epilogue: On the Architecture of Nihilism 259 Notes 273 Introduction 273 Chapter 1. Metropolis 284 Chapter 2. On the German Sociology of the City at the Turn of the Century 285 Chapter 3. Merchants and Heroes 286 Chapter 4. Negative Thought and Artistic Representation 289 Chapter 5. Essay and Tragedy 290 Chapter 6. The City as Essay 291 Chapter 7. Loosian Dialectics 292 Chapter 8. The Contemporaries 297 Chapter 9. The oikos of Wittgenstein 300 Chapter 10. Loos and His Angel 301 Chapter 11. Being Loyal 302 Chapter 12. The Other 302 Chapter 13. Tabula Rasa 303 Chapter 14. The New Space 303 Chapter 15. The House 303 Chapter 16. Lou's Buttons 304 Chapter 17. The Chain of Glass 304 Chapter 18. Of Progress and Pioneers 304 Chapter 19. On Loos's Tomb 304 Epilogue 305 Credits for Illustrations 307 "Massimo Cacciari, one of the most influential social philosophers in Italy today, is the founder of the trend of criticism known as "negative thought" that focuses on the failure of traditional logic to explicate the problems of modernity. This book, which introduces his writings to an English-speaking audience, provides a striking social and philosophical account of the twentieth-century metropolis. Patrizia Lombardo's extensive introduction situates Cacciari's thought within the milieu of Italian political activism and philosophy between the 1960s and the 1980s, from his collaboration on the leftist journal Contropiano to his long association with Manfredo Tafuri.". "Cacciari studies the relation between philosophy and modern architecture and applies the thinking of avant-garde architects, artists, and writers to the social and political problems raised by technological society. He begins by defining the modern metropolis, using the terms and ideas of Georg Simmel and Max Weber, but revealing where their frameworks are limited. He then examines the work of Adolf Loos and other architects and designers in early twentieth-century Vienna, showing how their architecture and criticism expose the alienation and utopianism in notions of the organic city. Cacciari demonstrates how architecture intersects with the city and the state but also with the interior of the private dwelling and with its resistance to the external world. Bringing together philosophy, sociology, urbanism, labor history, economics, and aesthetics, he helps us comprehend via these disciplines a crucial period in the history of modernity."--BOOK JACKET. This book introduces the writings of one of the most influential social philosophers in Italy today to an English-speaking audience. Massimo Cacciari studies the relation between philosophy and modern architecture and applies the thinking of avant-garde architects, artists, and writers to the social and political problems raised by technological society. A social and philosophical account of the 20th century metropolis. This text studies the relation between philosophy and modern architecture and applies the thinking of avant-garde architects, artists and writers to the social and political problems raised by technological society.