Abstract
Today, our modern Western world faces a paradoxical situation. At the height of our technological mastery, we often find ourselves separated from both the earth and our own human being. After many centuries of building our world, we meet an unsettling nexus of domination and homelessness. Confronting the powerful assumption that what matters is construction in space with our planet as raw material, we find an emerging need to take seriously what is ignored or discarded: not merely technological construction, but dwelling; not merely homogeneous and mathematized space, but place; not merely planetary raw material, but environment. A new attitude and approach are called for and underway as thinkers, builders, scientists and poets struggle to find a new way to face our situation. The essays of this volume are a contribution toward this effort.
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Notes
Gabriel Marcel, The Mystery of Being (London: Harvill Press, 1950 ), vol. 1, pp. 211–212.
On the history of phenomenology, see Herbert Spiegelberg, The Phenomenological Movement (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1982). On phenomenology and psychology, see Herbert Spiegelberg, Phenomenology in Psychology and Psychiatry (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1972); AmedeoGiorgi, Anthony Barton and Charles Maes, eds., Duquesne Studies in Phenomenological Psychology, vol. IV (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1983). On philosophical anthropology, see Marjorie Greene, Approaches to a Philosophical Biology (New York: Basic Books, 1968); Helmut Plessner, Philosophische Anthropologie (Frankfurt: S. Fischer, 1970). On phenomenology and the history of religion, see Mircea Eliade, Cosmos and History (New York: Harper and Row, 1959); Gerardus van der Leeuw, Religion in Essence and Manifestation, 2 vols. (New York: Harper and Row, 1963). On phenomenology and literary criticism, see Robert Magliola, Phenomenology and Literature (West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 1977). On phenomenology and art criticism, see Robert Rosenblum, Modern Painting and the Northern Romantic Tradition (New York: Harper and Row, 1975 ). For an excellent discussion of method and epistemological commitment in the human sciences, see Donald Polkinghorne, Methodology for the Human Sciences ( Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983 ).
For an introduction to hermeneutics, see Richard E. Palmer, Hermeneutics (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1969 ); Josef Bleicher, Contemporary Hermeneutics ( London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980 ).
For a phenomenological approach to medicine, see Edmund Pellegrino, Humanism and the Physician (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1979 ); Richard M. Zaner, The Context of Self: A Phenomenological Inquiry Using Medicine as a Clue ( Athens: Ohio University Press, 1981 ).
The first of these special sessions was organized by philosopher Steven Skousgaard for the 1980 annual meetings of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy ( SPEP) in Ottawa, Canada. Since then, sessions on the phenomenology of place and en¬vironment have been held under the aegis of SPHS and participants have included philos¬ophers, geographers, architects, psychologists, and urban designers.
See Maurice Merleau-Ponty, The Structure of Behavior (Boston: Beacon Press, 1963); David Seamon, “The Phenomenological Contribution to Environmental Psychology,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 2 (1982): 133; Amedeo Giorgi, “The Relationships Among Level, Type, and Structure,” in Amedeo Giorgi, Richard Knowles and David L. Smith, eds., Duquesne Studies in Phenomenological Psychology, vol. Ill ( Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1979 ), pp. 81–92.
One invaluable contribution to the harmonization of theory and practice not represented in this volume is the attempt by architect Christopher Alexander and colleagues to establish a “Pattern Language” — i. e., a set of universal, interconnected elements and qualities which underlie successful human places, be they regions, cities, towns, neighborhoods, or buildings. In one sense, Pattern Language can be described as an implicit phenomenology of design elements supporting a sense of place. Alexander’s work is a crucial complement to many of the present essays, and the reader is directed to the following books by Alexander, all published by Oxford University Press, New York: A Pattern Language (1977); The Timeless Way of Building (1979); The Oregon Experiment (1975); The Linz Cafe (1981); The Production of Houses (1985). For a discussion of Alexander’s latest work, see Steven Grabow, Christopher Alexander: The Search for a New Paradigm in Architecture (London: Oriel Press, 1983); Pete Retondo, “An Uncommon Bench: A Small Building by Architect Christopher Alexander and Associates,” CoEvolutionary Quarterly 10 (1984): 78–85; James Shipsky, “Christopher Alexander: Theory and Practice,” Architecture 74 (1984): 54–63. For one evaluation of the practical effectiveness of Pattern Language, see Dorit Fromm and Peter Bosselmann, “Mexicali Revisited: Seven Years Later,” Places 1 (1983-84): 78–90.
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© 1985 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
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Seamon, D., Mugerauer, R. (1985). Dwelling, place and environment: An introduction. In: Seamon, D., Mugerauer, R. (eds) Dwelling, Place and Environment. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9251-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9251-7_1
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