Pierre Caye

By this author

Science and effectivity: The architectural theory of Vitruvius as a test of Aristotelian metaphysics

from 01.09.2008

An essay by Pierre Caye from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France, provides a philosophical analysis of architecture in antiquity as a universal project, comparable to Aristotelian metaphysics. The development of ancient architecture in its relationship with science and philosophy was summarized in the treatise De architectura by the Roman architect Vitruvius (first century B.C.). His architectural theory significantly influenced Leon Battista Alberti, the first architecture theorist of the Renaissance. The paper argues that understanding architecture on the basis of Aristotelian metaphysics shifts the emphasis from ontology to morphology and helps avoid Heidegger’s criticism of technology in the context of European metaphysics. This is possible, because in the case of Vitruvius, technology does not constitute an insidious ontology of the production of things, but only a reshaping of the world in order to embellish it.

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