The Research Methods On Principles In The History Of Western Architecture Theory

Doubts about architectural research, usually focused on research methods of architectural theory, have existed for a long time. Aiming at this problem, this dis- sertation tries to find out the essential state of architectural theory. A concrete approach is to return to the texts in history, or return to architectural theory itself.The presupposition for this study is that the final purpose of architectural theory is to discover constant"principles"that indicate the way for the practice, which has been proved by so many writers.The results show that the research methods on principles include three aspects:(1) Explanation is the basic state of architectural theory research, because any theory might be a system of relative texts, otherwise, it can hardly be called a real theory, and furthermore, the two functions of an architectural theory, persuasion and consideration, also rely on the relations of its texts.(2) There are six tactics to get principles, which constitute three pairs: metaphor and classification, analogy and reduction, experience and invention. Being continuous, holistic, divergent and generative, the three tactics, which include metaphor, analogy and invention, form a category related to mythy and poetics, and being atomistic, reductive and convergent, the other three tactics, including classification, reduction and experience, form a category related to science.(3) The relationship between Reason and Rhetoric shows the epistemological characters of architectural theory research. First, pursuing principles as a final purpose of architectural theory belongs to reason owned by human, which is theoretical without a practical purpose. Second, reason cannot live by itself, it must exist through rhetoric in broad sense, which are the six tactics discussed here.The dissertation discusses most of the important texts in history then, starting with De architectura libri decem by Vitruvius, ended up with the lectures by Louis Kahn.In the end of this dissertation, by making paradox the subject, the author tests the legitimacy of those tentative explanation named previously, and alters the initial opinions partially. Paradoxically, the final conclusion is a Cartesian one, which initially I have planned to mention briefly only to reject it as no longer relevant: No method in history assures absolute correctness and unconditional immutability of our consideration on principles, but we can give one positive statement free from doubt at least—there is a person buliding and thinking; In the proper sense, we can say that Reason is still the base of our life, princiles is still the final aim of architectural theory. With this understanding, the author gives some consideration relating to the current and the future, and arrives at the propositions as: we should go back to the basic of the discipline, and we should open ourselves to the truth in a sincere or earnest attitude. This is an attitude mixed with positive backward-looking of Viollet- le-Duc and pessimistic upward-looking of Martin Heidegger, an academic attitude especially belongs to the current period unnamed.