From flatness to centeredness : defining empathy in design and why nature is the best designer

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dc.contributor.author Van Bergen, Jan Willem
dc.date.accessioned 2009-06-01T09:31:54Z
dc.date.available 2009-06-01T09:31:54Z
dc.date.issued 2008
dc.description.abstract In this article I will be elaborating a position first articulated by R. Buckminster Fuller. This position is that the geometry we rely on to inform and motivate our acts is central to our being in the world, and hence our ability to act with empathy. Buckminster Fuller uncovers how Euclidian geometry (flat earth thinking) can be contrasted with spherical geometry and what kind of impacts these two types of thinking have had, and are currently still having, on our ability to show empathy. Of fundamental importance to me in this article is to be able to convey the essential unity of all existence and that empathy cannot be expressed without a realisation of this. At the same time the critical method used in demonstrating this unity uncovers how nature is the best designer, and what the ‘Project of Architecture’ is in this context. en_US
dc.description.abstract AFRIKAANS: Van 'flathead' tot gesentreerdheid: ’n omskrywing van empatie in antwerp en waarom die natuur die beste ontwerper is. In hierdie artikel brei ek uit op ’n situasie wat vir die eerste keer deur R. Buckminster Fuller geartikuleer is. Dit is dat die geometric waarop ons staat mask om ons dade te vorm en te motiveer, sentraal is ten opsigte van ons in-die-wêreld wees, en gevolglik ook ons vermoë om empaties te handel. Buckminster Fuller toon aan hoe Euklidiese geometrie (plat aarde denke) gekonstrateer kan word met sferiese geometrie en watter soort impak hierdie twee soorte dense gehad en steeds het op ons vermoë om empaties te wees. In hierdie artikel is dit vir my van fundamentele belang om die essensiële eenheid van alle bestaan te verduidelik, asook dat empatie nie uitgedruk kan word sonder hierdie besef nie. Terselfdertyd demonstreer die kritiese metode wat toegepas word hoe die natuur die beste ontwerper is, asook wat die ‘Projek van argitektuur’ in hierdie konteks is.
dc.identifier.citation Van Bergen, JW 2008, 'From flatness to centeredness: defining empathy in design and why nature is the best designer', South African Journal of Art History, vol. 23, no.3, pp 75-84. [http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_sajah.html] en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0258-3542
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/10275
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Art Historical Work Group of South Africa en_US
dc.rights Art Historical Work Group of South Africa en_US
dc.subject How nature builds en_US
dc.subject Project of Architecture en_US
dc.subject Euclidian en_US
dc.subject Spherical en_US
dc.subject Position en_US
dc.subject Geometry en_US
dc.subject Empathy en_US
dc.title From flatness to centeredness : defining empathy in design and why nature is the best designer en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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