The claim of architecture : a new Wittgensteinian reading

• Main Author: Fahey, Carolyn A.
• Published: University of Newcastle Upon Tyne 2010
• Subjects: 192
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.627633

There is a small body of literature on Wittgenstein's house - the Palais Stonborough or Kundmanngasse- which has attempted to establish a link of some kind with the philosopher's writing and an understanding of architecture. However, this literature has generally misapplied Wittgenstein's philosophy. In order (Q locate a more convincing account, this dissertation offers an original reading indebted to the contemporary interpretation of Wittgenstein known as the "new Wittgenstein". Emphasizing and valuing grammatical investigations of language-use and its adequacy in describing the world, this reading undermines metaphysical or dualist accounts, as well as universals characteristic of essentialist accounts. With regards to architecture discourse, this reading yields a critique of theory-use in the architecture discourse since Modernity, through its valuation of everyday language-use over metaphysical constructions. Reading architecture through this new Wittgensteinian lens circumvents the restrictive post-Enlightenment dualists' paradigm that underlies metaphysical construction , and instead provides a holistic view of architecture.