socrates' ancestor an essay on architectural beginnings

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socrates' ancestor an essay on architectural beginnings

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Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings Paperback – September 21, 1993

Socrates' Ancestor is a rich and poetic exploration of architectural beginnings and the dawn of Western philosophy in preclassical Greece. Architecture precedes philosophy, McEwen argues, and it was here, in the archaic Greek polis, that Western architecture became the cradle of Western thought. McEwen's appreciation of the early Greek understanding of the indissolubility of craft and community yields new insight into such issues as orthogonal planning and the appearance of the encompassing colonnade - the ptera or "wings" - that made Greek temples Greek. Who was Socrates' ancestor? Socrates claims it was Daedalus, the mythical first architect. Socrates' ancestors were also the first Western philosophers: the preSocratic thinkers of archaic Greece where the Greek city-state with its monumental temples first came to light. McEwen brilliantly draws out the connections between Daedalus and the earliest Greek thinkers, between architecture and the advent of speculative thought. She argues that Greek thought and Greek architecture share a common ground in the amazing fabrications of the legendary Daedalus: statues so animated with divine life that they had to be bound in chains, the Labyrinth where Theseus slew the Minotaur, Ariadne's dancing floor in Knossos. Socrates' Ancestor is an exploration as remarkable for its clarity as for its avoidance of reductionism. Drawing as much on the power of myth and metaphor as on philosophical, philological, and historical considerations, McEwen first reaches backward: from Socrates to the earliest written record of Western philosophy in the Anaximander B1 fragment, and its physical expression in Anaximander's built work - a "cosmic model" that consisted of a celestial sphere, a map of the world, and the first Greek sun clock. From daedalean artifacts she draws out the centrality of early Greek craftsmanship and its role in the making of the Greek city-state. The investigation then moves James forward to a discussion of the polis and the first great peripteral temples that anchored for the meaning of "city."

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Editorial Reviews

Socrates' Ancestor is a gem of brilliant scholarship. All through the work I encountered insights and observations that answer questions I have nurtured for a long time. McEwen's achievement of uniting the rigor of mature and impeccable scholarship with the world of the imagination that is so often sacrificed in our universities make this book into a text which should be read by all students of architecture and architectural history, and students of classical Greece too.

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Indra kagis mcewen.

Indra Kagis McEwen is a Canadian architect and historian and affiliate faculty member in the Art History Department at Concordia University in Montreal where she lives.

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architecture

Socrates' Ancestor

An essay on architectural beginnings.

by Indra Kagis McEwen

206 pp. , 5 x 8 in ,

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Indra Kagis McEwen is an architect, historian, and affiliate professor in the Art History Department at Concordia University in Montreal. Her publications include two books, Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings (1993) and Vitruvius: Writing the Body of Architecture (2003), both published by the MIT Press.

If architecture is concerned with order, its omnipresent origins must be told in connection with the history of philosophy. This extraordinary book is more than an imaginative work of scholarship and a philological tour de force ; it is essential reading for architects aware for the need to grasp the story of emerging order at the 'end of modernity,' a time mysteriously a/symmetrical with that of Anaximander. Alberto Pérez-Gómez, Saidye Rosner Bronfman Professor of the History of Architecture, McGill University

McEwen manages, through a learned and indeed dizzying play of tropes and verbal analysis of the relevant Greek terms, to display the processes through which the archaic Greeks, building on mythical figures such as Daedalos, began to think about and organize their cities and temples. It is a virtuoso performance. George Hersey, Professor, Department of the History of Art, Yale University

Socrates' Ancestor is a gem of brilliant scholarship. All through the work I encountered insights and observations that answer questions I have nurtured for a long time. McEwen's achievement of uniting the rigor of mature and impeccable scholarship with the world of the imagination that is so often sacrificed in our universities make this book into a text which should be read by all students of architecture and architectural history, and students of classical Greece too. Robert-Jan van Pelt, Associate Professor of Cultural History, School of Architecture, University of Waterloo

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Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings

Indra kagis mcewen.

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

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References to this book, about the author (1993).

Indra Kagis McEwen is a postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Centre for Architecture and lecturer at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal.

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Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings

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Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings by Indra Kagis McEwen

David Goldblatt, Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings by Indra Kagis McEwen, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism , Volume 56, Issue 3, Summer 1998, Pages 305–307, https://doi.org/10.2307/432371

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Socrates' Ancestor by Indra Kagis McEwen

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C+ : significant, with interesting ideas, but presentation obscures the ideas and makes the text difficult to follow.

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The complete review 's Review :

Indra Kagis McEwen's essay on architectural beginnings is a small book that succinctly presents some fairly big ideas. The most fascinating part of the essay takes as its starting point a fragment by the pre-Socratic philosopher, Anaximander, and uses it and other work attributed to Anaximander in developing a foundation of modern architectural theory and practice. Building up on this she examines other important aspects of Greek culture that have had (and continue to have) an impact and influence on architecture. It is an interesting thesis, and Kagis has hit on some very important ideas. Regrettably the book remains that of a specialist, and can be difficult to approach. Her argument relies both on philology and philosophy, and her explanations are not always entirely clear. Nevertheless, it is recommended for anyone with an interest in architecture or early Greek philosophy.

About the Author :

Indra Kagis McEwen teaches architecture at the National Theatre School of Canada, and at l'Université du Québec à Montréal.

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SOCRATES' ANCESTOR: AN ESSAY ON ARCHITECTURAL BEGINNINGS By Indra Kagis Mcewen

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Cambridge, Mass

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-179) and index. Originally presented as the author's thesis (Master--McGill University School of Architecture).

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Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings by Indra Kagis McEwen
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Knowing how to write a college essay is a useful skill for anyone who plans to go to college. Most colleges and universities ask you to submit a writing sample with your application. As a student, you’ll also write essays in your courses.
Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings
Socrates' Ancestor is a rich and poetic exploration of architectural beginnings and the dawn of Western philosophy in preclassical Greece. Architecture precedes
Socrates' Ancestor
Socrates' Ancestor is a rich and poetic exploration of architectural beginnings and the dawn of Western philosophy in preclassical Greece.
Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings
Socrates' Ancestor is a rich and poetic exploration of architectural beginnings and the dawn of Western philosophy in preclassical Greece.
Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings
Socrates' Ancestor is a rich and poetic exploration of architectural beginnings and the dawn of Western philosophy in preclassical Greece.
Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings
Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings · Abstract · Categories · Keywords · ISBN(s) · DOI · Links · My notes.
Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings by Indra
David Goldblatt; Socrates' Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings by Indra Kagis McEwen, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
McEwen, socratesancestor.pdf
Socrates' ancestor : an essay on architectural beginnings / Indra. Kagis McEwen. P. Originally presented as the author's thesis (Master—McGill.
Socrates' Ancestor
Return to top of the page -. The complete review's Review: Indra Kagis McEwen's essay on architectural beginnings is a small book that succinctly presents
Socrates Ancestor An Essay on Architectural Beginnings
Book Title: Socrates' Ancestor : an Essay ON Architectural Beginnings ; Item Length: 8in. ; Publisher: The MIT Press ; Publication Year: 1993 ; Format: Trade
SOCRATES' ANCESTOR: AN ESSAY ON ARCHITECTURAL ...
Socrates' Ancestor is a rich and poetic exploration of architectural beginnings and the dawn of Western philosophy in preclassical Greece.
Socrates' ancestor (1993 edition)
Socrates' ancestor · an essay on architectural beginnings · by Indra Kagis McEwen · My Book Notes.