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

THEACADEMIC

TRADITION

205

also,ofan inadequacy

in thought: ofa failure to

definethe nature ofstyle

in general. Weclingin

architecture
tothepedantriesofhumanism,because

wedonotgraspthebearinguponarchitectureofthe

humanist

ideal.

Criticismisin itsnatureintellectual. Itseeksto

define

itssubject

matterinpurelyintellectualterms.

But taste

—

^the subject matter of criticism—^is not

purelyintellectual. Theeffortofcriticism

to

*

under-

stand

'

architecturehas doneno morethanaddits

own assertions to the confused assertions of mere

taste. It

hasnotrenderedtasteintelligible.

Of this tendency to over-intellectualize architiec-

turewehave

alreadytraced sometypicalexamples.

Wehaveseenarchitecturereducedtopurelymechani-

cal

terms, andtopurelyhistoricalterms

;

wehave

seenit associated

with poeticalideas, withideas

of

conductandofbiology. But,ofallformsofcriticism,

the academic

theory which confines architectural

beautyto the codeof

the Five Orders—

or toany

other code—is

the most complete example ofthis

excessiveintellectual

zeal. Itis the most self-con-

sciousattempt

thathasbeenmadetorealisebeauty

as

a

formofintellectual

order.

Indeed,it

isoftenstatedthat

thebeauty

ofclassic

architecture resides

in Order. And Order, upon

analysis, is

foimd to consist

in correspondence,

iteration,

andthepresence

offixedratiosbetweenthe