Notion Of Life Research Articles

Reinventing the Danteum Project

This paper describes an experiment where architectural history and theories are re-interpreted using some of the latest visualisation and multimedia techniques. The Danteum Project by G.Terragni was used as a vehicle to conduct our investigation into some of the potentials offered by computer visualisation. On the one hand the project was meticulously modelled based on available plans and sections, on the other hand studies were carried out to understand the contextual and philosophical framework on which the project is based. The experiment then proceeds to combine the two levels of readings, physical and contextual, and went forward to 'Reinvent The Danteum Project'. The re-interpretation is an attempt to explore some of the meanings of the Project and to further one's appreciation of Terragni's notion of life and death. The re-interpretation relied heavily on a non-realistic and semantic approach to computer visualisation. This leads to a hypothesis on the brave new virtual world where, unlike physical modelling, computer visualisation can be used to represent the 'perceived world'.

Regression-Progression in Ugo Betti's Drama

When Betti's Time of Vengeance was given its off-Broadway production, Harold Clurman wrote (The Nation, Jan. 2, 1960) that the central theme of the play is “evil as a means to satisfy a need for good of which the besmirched mortal does not seem capable.” This is true not only of this particular play but of all the “serious” plays Betti wrote. There is still, however, the task of clarifying the paradox contained in such a statement—a task which until now has been shirked by Betti's critics both in his native Italy and abroad.The paradox is a faithful reflection of Betti's notion of life's absurdity, or “incongruity.“ In fact, he revealed his own awareness of this paradox and suggested that it stands at the core of his drama:We are all poor, restless creatures, and we would like at least to understand the tremendous, bewildering incongruity that we see between our existence and what it ought to be according to the aspirations of our soul; to understand why life is the marvelously tranquil iniquity that it is.

The Unity of Will Studies of an Irrationalist

EVEN if the thinking of this book were of the best, it would seem a somewhat expensive morsel at half the price; and its thinking is not of the best. It professes to be an exposition of the leading doctrine of Schopenhauer, that in self-consciousness the primacy belongs to will. The author is at the same time careful to explain that he is a Vedântist while Schopenhauer is a Buddhist, but we doubt if the ordinary man will appreciate these fine distinctions. We rather fear that the ordinary man will be repelled by a certain lack of unity, coherence, systematic statement, and logical proof. Thus, for example, we have a chapter full of irrelevancy on “hysteria and sophistry, the deadly evils of civilisation.” Thus, too, we have a small appendix on the notion of life, which explains that everything in the world is in a certain sense alive, and seems to regard it as a valid argument that “the language of the skilled artisan is full of anthropomorphic expressions.” A five-page statement of first principles at the end has certain of the merits that are so conspicuously lacking in the main body of the volume.