Zeynep Çelik Alexander: Drawing circles (April 4, 2018)

Marcelyn Gow introduces architectural historian Zeynep Çelik Alexander. Zeynep Çelik Alexander discusses the epistemological history of modern design education, derived from her book, Kinaesthetic Knowing: Aesthetics, Epistemology, Modern Design (2017). She describes a 1905 psychological experiment by Rudolf Schulze arguing for a direct correlation between specific sensations and specific lines, forms and colors as stimuli. She grounds this experiment in a 19th century German philosophical and pedagogical tradition that proposed Kennen – knowledge obtained through experience with the world – could provide a basis for personal development (Bildung) and for Wissen – knowledge obtained by concepts, propositions and language. What Wilhelm Dilthey called “silent thinking” (schweigendes Denken), Alexander calls “kinesthetic knowing.” Alexander argues that this 19th century German intellectual tradition informed the Bauhaus pedagogy, as demonstrated in three topics: Feeling, Drawing, and De