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

THE

ETHICAL

FALLACY

139

neveragainbeaddressed:

'

ToallJoiners, Masons,I

Plasterers, etc., and their Noble Patrons.' A vast

j

democracywashenceforthtoexerciseitsveto

upon

taste. Ruskinwasthe firsttocaptureitsattention

for the art

ofbuilding, and

it

was natural that a

publicwhichhehadenfranchisedshouldacceptfrom

j

himitscreed. Ithadnoeffectiveexperienceeither'

inthecreationorinthepatronage

ofarchitectureby

whichthat creed mightbe corrected. Architecture

supposedly

'

Ruskinian

'—

^thoughnotalwaystothe

master'staste

—

^triumphedhenceforth inevery

com-

petition. Architectureinmoderntheorywasabook

foralltoread.

Democracy,lookingtothememorials

ofaworldithaddestroyedforsomeimage

ofitsown

desires, saw

inthe writingon the wall a

propitious

indexofitsowndestiny. The

ordersofPalladiowhich

had dignified the palacesofthe ancien

rSgintewere

easily deciphered

: Mene, Mene, Tekel,

Upharsin.

Thusthehistoryofarchitecture

wasmadeapledge

ofsocial

justice,andthepolitical

currents,strongly

running, destroyed

allunderstanding of

the Renais-

sance.

">•

The political

prejudice in taste

justifies itself by

anappealtomoral

values

;

butitdoesnot,

likethe

theological

prejudice, indulge

inoraclesfromrevela-

tion. Itis ethical,

butit is ethical

in autilitarian

sense.

It judges the

styles of architecture,

not

intrinsically, but by

their supposed

effects. The