PHILOSOPHY OF ARCHITECTURE

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Academic Year of enrolment:

2021/2022

Type of Course:

Related/Supplementary

Optional/Mandatory:

Compulsory

Degree:

Master's Degree Programme in ARCHITECTURE

Disciplinary Sector:

LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Language:

Italian

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

BACCHINI Fabio

Obligatory attendance:

Yes

Hours of classroom activity:

Prerequisites:

None

AF code:

A003157

Assessment Methods

Verification of learning:

Written exam. The exam usually consists in 5/6 open questions in English. The accepted languages for answers are: French, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese.

Teaching period

First semester

Objectives

• Knowledge and understanding:
By the end of the class, the students will possess a good knowledge of the main issues discussed in philosophy of architecture, metaphysics of architecture, analytic aesthetics of architecture, with particular attention to the relationship between architecture and other arts or activities such as music or cooking, and the problem of whether architectural entities can be relocated.

• Applying knowledge and understanding:
Not only will the students possess the conceptual and methodological tools sufficient to take position in any debate in philosophy of architecture, but they will also be able to argue against a cooperative interlocutor in order to make the debate grow.

• Making judgements:
By the end of the class, the students will be able to develop new arguments personally and autonomously within each possible specific debate in philosophy of architecture. They will also have the capacity to evaluate the comparative strength and weakness of a specific argument, irrespective of the fact that it was constructed by them or not.

• Communication skills:
The students will develop the mastery of a professional vocabulary in analytic philosophy so to express the finest differences among positions or arguments in philosophy of architecture.

• Learning skills:
The students will get able to develop further knowledge and capacities in the specific domain of philosophy of architecture, as well as in general critical thought, which will let them design in a more self-aware and judgmental way.

Contents

- Philosophy of Architecture, Ontology of Architecture
- What is the architectural work?
- Is architecture art?
- Architecture and site-specificity
- Can architectural works be relocated?
- Architectural works as events
- Nonexixtent architectural works
- Relation between buildings and establishments
- Is an establishment material or immaterial? Relocability of establishments

Recommended Bibliography

1. personal notes from the classes.

WHAT IS AN ARCHITECTURAL WORK?
2. Fisher, Saul. “Philosophy of Architecture”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2015 Edition). ed. Edward N. Zalta. Available at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/architecture/ . Sections “Architecture in Ancient and Early Modern Thought” and “Philosophy and the Tradition of Architectural Theory” included.
3. Davies, Stephen. “Is Architecture Art?” In Philosophy and Architecture, Michael Mitias (ed). Amsterdam and Atlanta, Ga.: Rodopi, 1994: 31-47.
4. Armstrong, A. MacC. "The identity of a work of architecture". The British Journal of Aesthetics 35, 2 (1995): 165-168.
5. Lopes, Dominic McIver. “Shikinen Sengu and the Ontology of Architecture in Japan”. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 65, 1 (2007): 77-84; De Clercq, Rafael. “Lopes on the Ontology of Japanese Shrines”. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 66, 2 (2008): 193-194; Lopes, Dominic McIver. “Reference, Ontology, and Architecture: Response to Rafael De Clercq”. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 66, 2 (2008): 194-196.
6. Bicknell, Jeanette. "Architectural Ghosts". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 72, 4 (2014): 435-441.
7. Judkins, Jennifer. "On Things That Are Not There Anymore". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 72, 4 (2014): 441-445.
8. Bacchini, Fabio. “The ontology of the architectural work and its closeness to the culinary work”. City, Territory and Architecture 5, 1 (2018): 5-21.
9. Bacchini, Fabio. “Culinary Works Come in Three Ontological Flavours”. Humana.mente 13, 38 (2020): 163-189.

RELOCATION

10. Riggle, Nicholas Alden. "Street art: The transfiguration of the commonplaces". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 68, 3 (2010): 243-257.
11. Bacchini, Fabio. "The Persistence of Buildings and the Context Problem". Footprint 11, 1 (2017): 85-104.
12. Bacchini, Fabio and Piras, Nicola. “Can a City Be Relocated? Exploring the Metaphysics of Context-Dependency”. Argumenta – Journal of Analytic Philosophy (2019).
13. Bacchini, Fabio. “Site-Specificity and Site-Specific Works of Art”. Forthcoming.
14. Korman, Daniel Z. “The Metaphysics of Establishments”. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 98, 3 (2020): 434-448.
15. Hindriks, F. A. “Establishments as Material rather than Immaterial Objects”. Australasian Journal of Philosophy. Forthcoming.

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

Face-to-face classroom teaching: class discussion of cases. Active participation; students will be asked to produce arguments to support or reject theories and points of view

Contacts/More Information

Readiness to offer individual assistance also in a foreign language to incoming students

Readiness to accept examination of incoming students also in a foreign language

Availability of supporting material and bibliographic references also in a foreign language (English; French; Spanish; Portuguese)

PHILOSOPHY OF ARCHITECTURE

Course year: 1

Course year: 2

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PHILOSOPHY OF ARCHITECTURE