In 7 pages this paper discusses the architecture considered by Nelson Goodman in an analysis of mediated reference, expression, exemplification, and denotation. Three sources are cited in the bibliography.
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Buildings Mean, Goodman begins by making a number of points regarding the difference between architecture and other works of art, which will evidently affect the way in which we interpret
buildings as opposed to music, literature or painting. He notes, for instance, that it is not possible to appreciate architecture from a single perspective: it is physically too big, and
has to be observed or experienced from a number of different viewpoints. It is perhaps interesting that having stated initially that the interpretation of architecture must be, to a considerable
extent, open, since buildings can only be seen in a dynamic cultural and geographical context, that Goodman later attempts to impose a much more prescriptive structure on the way that
they are perceived. Goodman points out that architectural
works such as a church or a city have purposes other than the aesthetic: they have a practical element which not only dictates their structure and the way that we
experience them, but also sets them in a cultural and temporal context from which it is not possible to isolate them. He also makes the point that not all buildings
are works of art, and this is not a matter of the difference between good and bad art: in fact, he asserts specifically that most works of art are bad,
although it is not entirely clear how much importance he accords to functionality in his division between good and bad art.
The difference lies in the fact that whilst all buildings can be said to have a practical