You Are Not Here: Sartre’s Phenomenological Ontology and the Architecture of Absence

This paper examines Jean-Paul Sartre’s phenomenological ontology in relationship to experiences with architecture that account for absence. While interest in Sartre’s phenomenology has waned over the past thirty years, philosophers of art are revisiting his work, particularly the way imagination fig...

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Main Author: Susan Herrington
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TU Delft OPEN Publishing 2008-06-01
Series:Footprint
Online Access:https://ojs-libaccp.tudelft.nl/index.php/footprint/article/view/686
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author Susan Herrington
author_facet Susan Herrington
author_sort Susan Herrington
collection DOAJ
description This paper examines Jean-Paul Sartre’s phenomenological ontology in relationship to experiences with architecture that account for absence. While interest in Sartre’s phenomenology has waned over the past thirty years, philosophers of art are revisiting his work, particularly the way imagination figures in his phenomenology. As educators, students, and practitioners who have the task of imagining what could be, Sartre’s grasp of the imagining consciousness in experience is especially relevant. His three main forms of the imagining consciousness – negation, nothingness, and being – are explored in the context space, place, and location. These forms of consciousness are drawn from his major phenomenological studies regarding the imagination, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology (1943; 1956), The Imaginary (1940; 2004), and Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960; 1976). Examples of absence include in-situ memorial structures that literally provide the space for negation, sites of religious veneration that render the place of nothingness, and spontaneous memorials that serve as the location for being (pour-soi, en-soi, and pour-autrui). Ultimately, Sartre’s phenomenological ontology reveals that imagination plays a vital role in understanding the experiential power of architecture in relationship to space, place, and location. In doing so, this paper also suggests that the imagining conscious itself may be an important part of an ontology of architecture.
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spelling doaj-art-bcb0d3847fb443f5810a437743eb70862025-02-03T01:05:03ZengTU Delft OPEN PublishingFootprint1875-15041875-14902008-06-012210.7480/footprint.2.2.686712You Are Not Here: Sartre’s Phenomenological Ontology and the Architecture of AbsenceSusan HerringtonThis paper examines Jean-Paul Sartre’s phenomenological ontology in relationship to experiences with architecture that account for absence. While interest in Sartre’s phenomenology has waned over the past thirty years, philosophers of art are revisiting his work, particularly the way imagination figures in his phenomenology. As educators, students, and practitioners who have the task of imagining what could be, Sartre’s grasp of the imagining consciousness in experience is especially relevant. His three main forms of the imagining consciousness – negation, nothingness, and being – are explored in the context space, place, and location. These forms of consciousness are drawn from his major phenomenological studies regarding the imagination, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology (1943; 1956), The Imaginary (1940; 2004), and Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960; 1976). Examples of absence include in-situ memorial structures that literally provide the space for negation, sites of religious veneration that render the place of nothingness, and spontaneous memorials that serve as the location for being (pour-soi, en-soi, and pour-autrui). Ultimately, Sartre’s phenomenological ontology reveals that imagination plays a vital role in understanding the experiential power of architecture in relationship to space, place, and location. In doing so, this paper also suggests that the imagining conscious itself may be an important part of an ontology of architecture.https://ojs-libaccp.tudelft.nl/index.php/footprint/article/view/686
spellingShingle Susan Herrington
You Are Not Here: Sartre’s Phenomenological Ontology and the Architecture of Absence
Footprint
title You Are Not Here: Sartre’s Phenomenological Ontology and the Architecture of Absence
title_full You Are Not Here: Sartre’s Phenomenological Ontology and the Architecture of Absence
title_fullStr You Are Not Here: Sartre’s Phenomenological Ontology and the Architecture of Absence
title_full_unstemmed You Are Not Here: Sartre’s Phenomenological Ontology and the Architecture of Absence
title_short You Are Not Here: Sartre’s Phenomenological Ontology and the Architecture of Absence
title_sort you are not here sartre s phenomenological ontology and the architecture of absence
url https://ojs-libaccp.tudelft.nl/index.php/footprint/article/view/686
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