...Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. Robert Venturi was born on June 25th 1925 in Philadelphia. In his early career, he worked for EERo Saarinen, and then in Philadelphia offices of the renowned Louis I. Kahn and Oscar Stonorov. He then partnered with John Rauch from 1964-1989 (Craven 2012b). For the past 30 years, he has collaborated with his wife, the architect, planner, author, and educator Denise Scott Brown, born on October 3rd 1931 in Zambia, and later on raised in a suburb of Johannesburg in South Africa. As a partnership, they created the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates (VSBA) (Craven 2012a). As told in the “That Old Thing Called Flexibility: An Interview with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown,” their classic books Learning from Las Vegas and Complexity and Contradiction remain unmatched for their aptitude to concern current architectural thought. The methods in regard in this article are about their “present thinking about iconography, transparency, spectacularisation, architectural pornography and the contemporary architectural avant-grade.”(Proto 2009) In Learning from Las Vegas (1972) the famous diagram of ‘The duck and the decorated shed’ was introduced into the architectural vocabulary; the duck represents a special building that is a symbol, whereas the decorated shed is the conventional shelter that applies symbols (Venturi 1977, 87). The classic understanding of symbolism was overturned after the revelation of the decorated shed found along the...
Words: 590 - Pages: 3
...picking out a hair style or an outfit to put on where everything needs to make sense or match, it just needs to appeal to the viewer, and depending on the viewer’s mood at the time, the art pieces can be very different. The first art piece I selected was from the Museum of Modern Art; The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897 by Henri Rousseau. (Rousseau) I liked this oil on canvas painting for its simplicity and calmness. Henri Rousseau, a toll collector by trade, was a French Post-impressionist self-taught painter; even though he was never properly trained his natural born talent was admired by other artist including more famed avant-garde artists like Pablo Picasso and Vasily Kandinsky. His type of art “derived from the style and subject matter of popular print culture”. (Rousseau) Rousseau described the painting of the gypsy as wandering Negress who played the mandolin. She was so tired that she fell into a a deep sleep under the moonlight. The lion was drawn in by her scent but did not attack her probably because of how peaceful she looked sleeping, and not threatening her demeaner. I loved the use of color that Rousseau used in this painting because it represented calmness. Rousseau used simple lines and sharp color distinctions that showed dimension and depth. The night sky is...
Words: 1458 - Pages: 6
...Questions Plato and Aristotle 1. Characterize the Athenian democracy! Which were its main traits? 2. What are Plato’s main objections to democracy? 3. Discuss Plato’s idea that the most talented and educated should rule the state. What are his arguments? Do you have any objections to this? If so, which? 4. How does Plato argue around questions of family and private property? 5. What does Aristotle mean by Zoon Politicon? How does it affect his political ideas? 6. In what main ways does Aristotle’s view of democracy differ from Plato’s? 7. How does Aristotle justify slavery? 1. Mill is one of the main figures of the liberal tradition. Why? Characterize the main ideas of this ideology and discuss how they are represented in Mill’s philosophy. 2. Define and discuss the dangers of democracy according to Mill. What are his solutions? 3. Describe utilitarianism. In what ways can Mill be understood as an utilitarian and in which ways not? 4. Describe Marx’ historical materialism, including what role history plays in his philosophy. What relation does ‘revolution’ have to historical laws and human activity, respectively? 5. Describe Marx’ theory of alienation. Discuss its political implications. 6. What are the main arguments of Michael Hardt’s text? Discuss them in relation to Marx. 7. Compare and discuss the different understandings of ”freedom” in liberal and socialist ideology. 1. Characterize the main ideas...
Words: 462 - Pages: 2
...equality. These key features will be explained in terms of how they reflect specific assumptions about children and education. Furthermore to evaluate how these ideas have impacted children’s education in both the past and the present. Liberalism requires members of society to develop liberal ideas such as individualism and independence amongst the likes of John Locke who wrote a book called ‘Some thought Concerning Education’ (1893) which emphasises the significance of early education in the home. “upbringing in the home is crucial for the development of good character” (May, 1997, p. 3). Rationalism is another imperative feature of the Age of Enlightenment as people used theory to make sense of human development along the likes of Rousseau. His book, ‘Emile’ is about the development of a young boy becoming a man using his ideas for child rearing. “education should be a response to the child’s curiosity and interest to natural world.” (May, p. 39-40, 2005) This theory was put into practice by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi who was so impressed with his ideas that “he attempted to rear his child according to Rousseau’s principles” (May, 1997, p. 11). The Enlightenment implies equality necessary for females to be educated alongside men to allow for equal opportunity. In Wollstonecraft’s book ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’ (1792) she protests for women’s rights in society. May (1997, p. 8) points out that she “argued for the liberal principles of equality, freedom, and...
Words: 1186 - Pages: 5
...James Staton Mr. Borton World Literature II October 6, 2015 Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a prominent writer in the eighteenth century and influenced different revolutions in his work such as the revolutionary sentiments in France and American colonies. Rousseau helped start the Romantic Movement and is responsible for creating the new genre in literature known as an autobiography. This came from the one of the stories he wrote called Confession, which he goes in to detail about what he has been through in life. He was writer during the Enlightenment period and he drew influences from Immanuel Kant. A lot of beliefs of the enlightened way of thinking show in Rousseau‘s writing called The Social Contract. Being “Enlightened” is ones freedom to think for them and not be trapped in social status that societies may put on people. Rousseau put together the social contract to persuade people to break the political rule of authority and give power to the people and not one person. The Social Contract was written in 1762 containing four different books explaining the possibilities of how people can achieve equality and power with the help contract. Rousseau's intended audience were the people who were under the political rule of authority. I feel that the way he explains his contract is effective especially because each book is something different that would erase the political rule of authority and bring equality among the citizen. Book...
Words: 1826 - Pages: 8
...During the 18th century Europeans began to question the traditional way of livelihood and the knowing. These people were called philosophes and they explored for new ways in order to understand and improve the society in which they lived in. These philosophes held on to the idea that natural laws were the best educator and was the answer to understanding human activities some of which are economics and government, through the study of societies natural patterns. This revolution in thinking and the study of human behavior is known as Enlightenment. At this time they were focused on one major idea which was freedom. Philosophes believed that the more freedom people had individually and less of the governments authority the better society would be. The improvement of society applied to the areas of government, religion, economics and the betterment of equality for women. Enlightenment thinkers believed that all people should be equal and with this equality people should be able to make their own decisions and pick their own government. English philosophe John Locke believed that all people are free to make their own decision and create a government within the laws of nature. He also believed that if people saw that the government was failing they had the right to preserve and prevent that failure of the government (Doc.A). The government would be made for people by the people themselves. If free and equal people created a government they would improve society by maintaining the...
Words: 636 - Pages: 3
...The state refers to a nation or territory that is considered as an organized political community under one government or sovereign. The social contract bounds this political community which consisted of its citizens to the state; if there is no government and there was no law to regulate them, every individual would do whatever they deem fit, this results in hardships and oppression on the sectors of the society. To resolve these issues, the individuals entered into two agreements which are “Pactum Unionis” and “Pactum Subjectionis” (Elahi, n.d.). “Pactum Unionis” refers to the undertaking to respect each other and live in peace and harmony and “Pactum Subjectionis” means that people pledged to surrendered the whole or part of their freedom and rights to an authority. The authority in turn provides protection of lives, property and to a certain extent liberty for everyone under the social contract, through the usage of common laws. In order for the state to remain in power to enforce the social contract, it has to always maintain its control. According to Rappa (2012), there are five dimensions of the State namely; coercive, re-distributive, legal‐constitutional, social and secular. The coercive dimension refers use of “forces” gain control; which is known as the “punishment” or “stick”. The enforcement of the laws is done through the physical deployment of the police, security and military forces, this is the harshest approach of the state control, hence it is used only when...
Words: 1487 - Pages: 6
...10 Modern Philosophers and their Contribution to Education 4 Replies The following article is a guest post from Ryan De Guzman, a fellow writer and colleague. Visit his own blog Nevermore Nonsense to read more of his posts. Two and a half millenniums ago, Plato stated that knowledge is justified true belief, an influential notion that shaped educational theories across time. Since then, modern thinkers had never stopped seeking knowledge about the human psychology, development, and education. Here, are the ten greatest. John Locke and the Tabula Rasa Locke (1632-1704), an English philosopher and physician, proposed that the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa. This states that men are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge comes from experience and perception, as opposed to predetermined good and evil nature, as believed by other thinkers. On his treatise “Some Thoughts Concerning Education”, he emphasized that the knowledge taught during younger years are more influential than those during maturity because they will be the foundations of the human mind. Due to this process of associations of ideas, he stressed out that punishments are unhealthy and educators should teach by examples rather than rules. This theory on education puts him on a clash with another widely accepted philosophy, backed by another brilliant mind Immanuel Kant and Idealism They never lived at the same time, but history always put Locke and Kant on a dust up. A famed German thinker...
Words: 1130 - Pages: 5
...concentrating power in a single head or centre, the state itself could be sufficiently controlled and its environment sufficiently managed to achieve self-sufficiency or at least a maximum of self-sufficiency in a world which would inevitably be hostile or at best neutral toward each state's interests and in which alliances would reflect temporary coalitions of interests that should not be expected to last beyond that convergence. The old maxim: "No state has friends, only interests," typified that situation. The first powerful nation-states were monarchies, advocates of the divine right of kings to protect central authority and power. After a series of modern revolutions, first in thought, led by people like Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, and Rousseau, and then in practice as articulated in The Federalist, kings were stripped of their exclusive powers and new power centres formed, presumably based upon popular citizenship and consent but in fact with the same centralized powers, only vested in representative assemblies and executive officers speaking in the name of the state. Only in a few...
Words: 1553 - Pages: 7
...Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born in city of Geneva, on 28th of June 1712. Rousseau`s mother died a week after his was born and his father blamed him for her death. He, then, was orphaned at the age of 10 because his father left Geneva to avoid imprisonment. Rousseau brought up by his devout Christian aunt and uncle, which spurred his hatred of authority and the church. Even though Rousseau had never received formal education, his love of literature and creative imagination were developed at a young age. In the Confessions, Rousseau mentioned that he went to Paris to become a composer and musician in his young adulthood, but he was discouraged and laughed by the other famous musicians at the time. At the same time, Rousseau became a close friend of fellow philosophe Diderot. As he mentioned in his autobiography, the reason why he was so...
Words: 952 - Pages: 4
...Changing History or Preserving the Past? Both Rousseau and Marx have contrasting views on private property. Throughout this essay I will go in-depth at both theorists’ critique of private property individually, and as a whole. Having been written 150 years ago, both Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality and Marx’s Communist Manneifsto ideas of private property still remain relevant till this day. Marx has a very aggressive view of property. Marx believes that private property divides society into two groups the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The bourgeoisie are the people who have all the land. Where the Proletariat are known to have no property (means of production), and who are the people who apply labor to the land. According to Marx the division between these two groups in society has been going on since the beginning of history, and is extremely important to realize that history has dictated how people are grouped into these societies. “In bourgeois society…. the past dominates the present; in...
Words: 614 - Pages: 3
...Kathryn Virgin 213387808 TA Adam Kingsmith AP/SOSC 1140 Tutorial 14 3 October 2014 Essay One: Individual Autonomy and Social Structure The conflict that Dorothy Lee sees in Western culture is that whether consciously or not, we have separated individual autonomy from our social structure. How then can we value individuals for their sheer personal being, or value positive freedom when we exist in a culture that no longer actively applies those tenets? Herein lies the dichotomy which she presents in her chapter: the autonomy of the individual against the limits of society. By selecting one of the examples from the reading, related to child rearing, I will attempt to establish an explanation as to what Dorothy Lee is trying to demonstrate as a resolution for this key social issue. The problem with the way we live nowadays, speeding along in a constant state of change, is that we do not give a second thought to respecting individual integrity. We are products of our society, and our society has been framed to respect success instead. In a capitalist society where everything centers on greed and possession even the morphology of English has been formed to reflect this; the structure of a sentence is formed to show possession over the noun or subject. How we have raised our children has also reflected this notion of success. Parents want what is best for the child, but whom is allowed to decide what is best? When do we allow our children to choose for themselves? It is disrespectful...
Words: 829 - Pages: 4
...notable autobiographies and has influenced many forms of narratives. It inaugurated modern day autobiography and inspired a narrative technic used in many great novels. Rousseau wrote this autobiography in order to tell the world about himself and express the nature of man. He did not want to be known by how people thought of him, but rather be able to tell people exactly what happened in his life and let them be the judge. Rousseau begins Confessions by stating, “this is the only portrait of a man, painted exactly according to nature and in all of its truth, that exists and will probably ever exist” (57). He included embarrassing experiences and personal thoughts from throughout his life to show every possible virtue of his life. He portrays what every boy encounters from mischievous trickery to entering sexual adulthood. The events that change his life and himself become a consistent theme while he describes his childhood, sexual cravings, and natural thoughts of a boy’s life. One of the most common subjects in Rousseau autobiography is the story of his childhood and the nature of a boy. Rousseau’s mother passed away during his birth, which strained the relation between him and his father. When they tried to speak of her the conversation would end with tears because his father saw Rousseau’s mother through Rousseau. Losing one’s mother is a very heartbreaking occurrence to a young boy. His father never forgave him for taking his mother’s life even “forty years after losing her...
Words: 1263 - Pages: 6
...History 002 21 February 2012 Writing Response 1: The American Revolution and the French Revolution were both influenced in part from the Enlightenment era. Much of the inspirations for the documents that were created by the French and US were taken from the ideas of such people like John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. In this essay I will point out the various philosophies that were adopted. One of the main things that were stated is that all people all created equal. That all people are born with rights that should not be withheld from them. If any government were to take these rights away from them it is up to the people to over throw such a government. They took this idea from Condorcet who also stated that people cannot be prosecuted without those abiding by civil codes. This also includes the right to vote or to choose who you want to represent you which was taken from John Locke. `Another point that is made is how government should be run. The thing that shows up the most is the rights of the king. Before it was believed that the king had the divine right to govern over other people. Many of the enlightened thinkers thought that you need to have understanding and tolerance of others. Not only should those in power, but the people also need to have a firm understanding of what is going on around them and to question, if necessary, laws that the government enacts. As people choose who it is that will set the laws which they will need to follow. Though some enlightened...
Words: 384 - Pages: 2
...Social contract theory is a philosophical account of the origins of the state and the relationship between the individual and the state. It refers to an agreement between individuals, in which they abandon a part of their freedom (or natural rights) in exchange for laws guaranteeing an organized society. The concept of a social contract appears early in the writings of Plato; nevertheless, the major theorists of this concept are credited to Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This essay will assess the meaning of the social contract through an analysis of their theories. Hobbes describes his conception of the social contract in his book Leviathan whereby he begins describing an account of men in the state of nature. In this state, men strive for power, are relatively equal and fight for scare resources (Wolff 2006). Therefore, from theses assumption of equality, scarcity and uncertainty, Hobbes theorized the creation of a state, which could ensure peace and security by commanding people (M.Rosen and J.Wolff 1999). That is why the social contract should be a “contract of submission”, which means that the only way to maintain the security is to completely submit to a sovereign authority. This contract is characterised by two fundamental features, which are a complete submission and an absolute power (J.Hampton 2013). Hobbes argues, only a powerful sovereign can maintain social stability: “Without the sword, contracts are only words" (Leviathan 1651). The result...
Words: 1203 - Pages: 5
