Action, alienation and Bacchus

[摘要] In order to counter the alienated condition of man it is necessary to promote the reconciliation of the Dionysian and Apollonian. These are the forces that characterize the eternal swing from nature to artifice. While evidence of the Apollonian will to construct an ordered reality abounds in the contemporary city, the ability to access the Dionysian realm of truth is not provided for. The ancient urban form of the stoa--by giving shape to the space of the agora--allowed for an immersion into the sensuous world of Dionysos. The stoa defined the space and established an experience where a Dionysian immersion was mediated by Apollonian determination and order. By reviving the function of the stoa in the contemporary city, much can be done to ameliorate the alienated condition of man.

[发布机构] Rice University

[效力级别] Philosophy