The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

CHAPTER IV

THE

MECHANICALFALLACY

Such,in

broadoutline,werethe

tendencies,andsuch,

for architecture,

the results, of the

criticism which

drew itsinspirationfrom

the Romantic

Movement.

Very

different in its

origins, more plausible

in its

reasoning,but

in itsissuenolessmisleading,

isthe

schooloftheorybywhich

thiscriticismwas

succeeded.

Not

poetry butscience, not

sentiment butcalcula-

tion,isnowthe

misleadinginfluence. Itwas

impos-

sible

thatthe epoch ofmechanical

inventionwhich

followed,

with singular exactness, the

close of the

Renaissance tradition,

should be without

its effect

infixingthepointofviewfromwhich

thattradition

wasregarded. Thefundamentalconceptions

ofthe

time were themselves dictated

by the scientific

investigationsforwhichitbecame

distinguished.

Everyactivityinlife,andeventhe philosophy

of

lifeitself, wasinterpreted by the methodwhich,

in

one

particular field,had proved sofruitful. Every

aspectofthingswhicheludedmechanical

explanation

becamedisregarded,orwasevenforcedby

violence

into mechanical terms. For it was

an axiom of

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