Arch.Uth Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Postgraduate Course Arch.Uth UTH.gr Ελληνικά
EPISTEMOLOGY OF ANCIENT GREEK ARCHITECTURE
ΘΚ0705, THEORY AND CRITICISM,
Elective at semester(s) 6, 8, ECTS: 3

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

A. Prior to the learning outcomes sought by the teaching of the course, the knowledge starting points of the course should be reminded: Vitruvius studies the classical writers. Alberti studies Vitruvius. At Bauhaus too, teachers approach architectural creation through the Platonic concepts of Idea and Use. Philosophy has for a long time been studied in the schools of Architecture. In the Department of Architecture, the old tradition continues and the course takes the baton from Philosophy, this timepromptedby Epistemology. It is addressed to a small circle of students and has a seminar nature: reading and analysing translated ancient texts, thoughts, thoughts, thoughts and assumptions on architectural works, and above all discussion of a series of questions.

 

B. With regard to the learning outcomes, students should be able to answer questions of the following type:

− In the Ancient Greco-Roman World how was architecture defined as knowledge?

− What does “validity of knowledge” mean in the architecture of that age?

− How is this validity certified?

This ability of the students must go even further and thus:

− It must strengthen their ability to interpret the constructions of the Ancient Greek-Roman World

− It must help them penetrate into the mind of the ancient architect, and next (why not?):

− It must make them acquire the knowledge and self-knowledge about their research past and present within the Department (: the issue of meddlesomeness in architectural studies as a result of the Vitruvian encyclios disciplina), but also as a traineeship in understanding their professional future (: the subject of ethics in Architecture).

 

In this case, and exceptionally, due to the nature of the course, it must be explicitly and unequivocally stated that the following are avoided:

− The use of some incomprehensible academic argot and

− The discussion −even at the level of scientific criticism− of controversial approaches of the Ancient Greek Architecture that are currently widely known and worshiped by the broader TV audience (: even furtive glances at arithmosophy, theosophy, astrology and similar charlatanistic approaches to Ancient Greek Architecture).

In such a course of further consideration of the Theory of Ancient Greek Architecture and in the theoria of ancient constructions, those interested will not deal with much. To approach the above questions, the cycle of the study sources is small. Few extracts are used primarily from Plato᾽s texts and secondarily from Vitruvius' work. The study mainly focuses on the concepts of tectonics and the art of buildingby Plato as the term “architecture”appears nowherein his texts. The study of the above concepts will be integrated into the research of broader Platonic and Vitruvian themes, such as:

− The relations of the tectonics and the art of building to the art and science of the Classical period and the time of August.

− The relations of the tectonics and the art of building to Plato's meddlesomeness but also with learning and virtue.

Therefore, on the one hand we examine the epistemological questions and on the other hand the Platonic-Vitruvian contributions to the answers thereof. Of course, as far as possible, efforts are made for the comprehension of some of the answers given by modern researchers, too.

SUBJECT

The content of the course per lecture is structured as follows:

LECTURE I: General Introduction to Epistemology.

LECTURE II: Introduction to Ancient Greek Epistemology.

LECTURE III: Before Plato: Archaic Architecture and the Pre-Socratic Epistemology.

LECTURE IV: Introduction to the Platonic Epistemology.

LECTURE V: The Ancient Greek Architecture and the Platonic Epistemology.

Lecture VI: The Platonic Allegory of the Cave in the View of the Theory of Architecture.

LECTURE VII: The platonic solids and architectural formalism.

LECTURE VIII: The example of the reins and bed and the architectural functionalism.

LECTURE IX: The Architect's meddlesomeness: The Platonic and the Vitruvian view.

LECTUREX: Platonic Ethics and Architecture.

LECTURE XI: Ancient Greek Theory of Knowledge and Architecture: The view of the moderns.

 

The course is structured in weekly lectures accompanied by:

− Presentations of audio-visual material (ppt. Video)

− Distribution of printed architectural designs which are explained and commented during the lecture

− Distribution of Vitruvius and Plato's texts in the original language, but mainly in their translations that are commented and form the starting point for the relevant considerations.

INDICATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Introduction to Epistemology:

Gemtos P. [ΓέμτοςΠ.], Μεθοδολογία Κοινωνικών Επιστημών, Αthens 2016.

KouzelisG. [Κουζέλης Γ.], Επιστημολογία: Κείμενα, Αthens1997.

 

Introduction to Ancient Greek Epistemology:

Andriopoulos D.Z. [Ανδριόπουλος Δ.Ζ.], Αρχαία ελληνική γνωσιοθεωρία. Συμβολή στη διερεύνηση του προβλήματος: αντίληψη και γνώση, Αthens2003.

Gerson L.P., Ancient Epistemology, Cambridge2009.

 

Epistemology of Ancient Greek Architecture:

Capon D.S., Architectural theory, vol. 1: The Vitruvian fallacy: a history of the categories in architecture and philosophy, Chichester 1999.

Gelerntner M., Sources of architectural form: a critical history of Western design theory, Manchester-New York 1995.

Pollitt J.J., The ancient view of Greek art: criticism, history, terminology, New Haven-London 1974.

Hahn R., Anaximander and the architects: The contributions of Egyptian and Greek Architectural technologies to the origins of Greek philosophy, Albany NY, 2001.

Mitrović B., Philosophy for architects, New York 2011.

Senseney J.R., The art of building in the classical world: vision, craftsmanship, and linear perspective in Greek and Roman architecture, Cambridge 2011.

Viola A., Vitruve – Le savoir de l’architecte, Paris 2006.

 

Epistemology of Ancient Greek Architecture and Plato:

Andronicos M. [Ανδρόνικος Μ.], Ο Πλάτων και η τέχνη: οι πλατωνικές απόψεις για το ωραίο και τις εικαστικές τέχνες, Αthens1986 [2ndedition].

Gounaris A.P. [Γούναρης Α.Π.], Τεκτονικὴ και Οἰκοδομικὴ κατά Πλάτωνα. Σχόλια και σημειώσεις επί των απαρχών της έννοιας της αρχιτεκτονικής: Από την αμάρτυρο στον Πλάτωνα ἀρχιτεκτονικὴ στην architecturaτου Βιτρουβίου, Αthens 2017.