Home Architecture Talk
What exactly is scholastic thinking and how is it used in gothic architecture?
I am meant to be doing an essay partly involving this question - I understand that it was used in mediaeval times and was a way of thinking, but how does this apply to architecture?
Public Comments
- That IS a toughie. I couldn't think of anything straight-off, but something came to me like in the middle of the night. See, Scholasticism is a dialectical method where both sides of an issue are presented to the listener and the listener chooses which side to agree with (it's more of a logical argument or discussion). It differs from a debate method where each debater takes a pro or con stance and argues that viewpoint exclusively. The connection to architecture, as I see it, is this (I'm going to use churches/cathedrals as my example): Medieval churches were kind of 'one-sided', generally built as places to worship God in Heaven - depictions of Hell were somewhat rare (but some exist). By the Gothic era, cathedrals tended to portray both Heaven scenes AND Hell scenes to the viewer. Naturally, the Church wanted people to choose the Heavenly path over the Hell-bound path, but they left that choice to the viewer/listener. BOTH sides of the story or potential outcomes were portrayed and discussed - that's Scholasticism.
