Architecture and Schopenhauer. The problem of the fruition and the place for architecture in Schopenhauer’s aesthetic theory

Abstract

In this article, I outline a questioning on Schopenhauer‟s aesthetic thought, particularly regarding to his analysis on architecture and the fruition of the architectural object. I intend to open two strands of analysis relating to two concerns: first, the understanding of the architecture in terms of a submission to causal relationships and utilitarian purposes, leaving foresee certain affiliation of Schopenhauer to the canons of neoclassical architecture. Second, the mode of fruition of the architectural object, limited to a visual contemplation, having as corollary – in my point of view – the precarious distinction between architecture and the artifact. As a matter of conclusion, I try to amalgamate these concerns by raising the necessity of a distinction between hierarchy and transversality concerning to a comprehension of the aesthetic reading present in Book III of The World as Will and Representation.