Leon Baptista Alberti : the philosophy of cultural criticism
Name
15045866-MIT.pdf
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Full printable version
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18.91 MB
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ce0ecc63f5c0266a1a64361ed9322775
Author(s)
Jarzombek, Mark Michael
Date Issued
1986
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
This dissertation investigates Leon Baptista Alberti's cultural critique, taking into consideration a broad spectrum of Alberti's writings, including many which have remained relatively unknown and ignored. Alberti developed his cultural theories by means of a literary ontology which is based on the definition of the author, his role in society, and his function as catalyst for regeneration. His theory of art and of history, and even his views on the task of Humanism it self, are all subsumed in his comprehensive attempt to demonstrate that myth-making capabilities are central to society's self-definition. Unless society keeps alive the myths of destruction and regeneration, its historical viability, so Alberti argues, is endangered. Alberti's aesthetic theory, which has previously been sought exclusively in his treatises, De pictura and De re aedificatoria, emerges in this inquiry as inextricably interlocked with his cultural critique. For the first time, the treatises will be viewed from within the context of Alberti's own thought.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1986.
MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.
Bibliography: leaves 355-362.
Subjects
Architecture.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
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