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

THE

MECHANICALFALLACY

loi

Andin

supportofthiscontention,thescientific

critic

willshowhow,inthe

Gothicstyle,everydetailcon-

fesses

aconstructivepurpose,

anddelightsusbyour

senseofitsfitness

fortheworkwhichis,justthere,

precisely

requiredofit. And

hewillturntotheDoric

styleandassert the same

ofthat.. Both the great

stylesof

thepast, hewillsay,

were

in

facttruthful

presentations of a special

and perfect constructive

principle, the one

of the lintel, the other of the

I

vault.

<::

Now,in so faras thisargument

is basedon the

Greekand

mediaevalpracticeofarchitecture,itisan

argument aposteriori. But it is clearly

useless to

reason dogmatically a posteriori,

except from the

evidence

of all the facts. If all the architecture

whichhasevergivenpleasureconfirmedtheprinciple

stated in the definition,

then

the argument

would

be strong, even if it were not logicallyconclusive.

Admitting,then (forthemoment),that thedescrip-

tion

givenof Greekand mediaevalarchitectureis a

fairone

;

admitting,also, theGreekpre-eminencein

taste,

and the acknowledged

beauty of the Gothic,

theargumentfromtheseisclearly not, initself, an

adequate condemnation

of a different practice em-

ployed by the Romansand the Renaissance,

which

has

enjoyeditsown

popularity,andwhose casehas

notyetbeentried.

Butwe maysuppose

ourscientificcritictoreply