The Side View

I’m to happy to report The Side View now has a fresh, updated website. The site serves as a permanent archive for all the essays we published from 2018-2023. The collection is stable into the foreseeable future. Check it out below. — @AE_Robbert thesideview.co

The Side View was a media project I ran from 2018–2023. Through it, I published online and print articles, ran a podcast, and hosted a few online and in-person events here in the Bay Area. In the end, I worked with ~50 different writers on ~60 essays, all dealing with the question of perception cultivation from the perspective of philosophers, contemplatives, architects, designers, athletes, cognitive scientists, artists, and more. The site has been degrading for some time, to the point of being almost unusable. Now, however, I’m happy to report that I’ve done extensive repair work on the site, bringing it up-to-date with a fresh coat of paint and some subtle design upgrades for safe keeping. If you’re not familiar with the site, but you follow and appreciate my work, I think you’ll really get something out of this archive. The essays stand the test of time and really brought something new into the online philosophy space, and did so at a high level. I’ll write something more formal soon, but for now, I encourage you to visit the new site and check out some of the pieces.

This will likely be a relatively slow burning “side project,” but I will be porting over all ~60 original essays from @TheSideViewCo onto the other site to give them a stable and permanent home. The existing website is constantly degrading, and I just don’t have the time to keep it up, but the work will live on below as soon as I can get to uploading each of those essays. More updates soon.

@OshanJarow thesideview.co/journal/the-in… hey did you read my @TheSideViewCo piece from forever ago? I think you'd maybe find it/it's sources to be interesting companion info to this line of inquiry

4/4 Finding the Center Understanding centers may help architects actualize vigorous places and environments that sustain thriving human life. David Seamon thesideview.co/journal/findin…

3/4 In today's essay, David Seamon offers a standalone introduction to Alexandrian centers, tracing them across nested scales from the small to the large, showing how their design generates a feeling of wellbeing and "at-homeness," while also making space for a revelatory mood.

2/4 A center is not just a geometric shape or location in design space, it is an active agency whose own internal coherence posits both a sense of distinction and interconnection in art works, natural environments, and buildings, from the simple to the byzantine.

1/4 In the wake of Christopher Alexander's passing, we're honored to continue our series on his work, in commemoration of a life deeply lived and shared. The "center" is among the most essential concepts in Alexander's body of work. It is in many ways the crux of his philosophy.

The late Christopher Alexander wrote in a clear and practical style. Still, finding a way into his dozens of lengthy publications can be a challenge to newcomers. Here David Seamon lays out one of Alexander’s key concepts in standalone, accessible form. thesideview.co/journal/findin…

Instrumentalized reason, that prodigal son, has left the house of its father and wastes its substance with riotous living. thesideview.co/journal/reckon…

True logos does not oppose mythos. Rationalism is not logos but its tyrannical corruption. 🧵:

This @TheSideViewCo essay remains close to my heart, it lays out the epistemic foundations of my project of investigating society. Warmly recommended reading for those who want to go deeper into my social theory and claims. thesideview.co/journal/why-ci…

@FourFourths Of course, I must link: ‘Generating Wholes’ by @normonics on @TheSideViewCo thesideview.co/journal/genera…

His talk will be based on the following article of his, which would be good to read before the webinar. x.com/_buildingbeaut…

This week’s webinar will host architect James Maguire, who worked with Christopher Alexander at CES, and at several universities in the US: “The Role of Being: Philosophical Underpinnings in The Nature of Order” Thursday, 15:00 UTC (not 16:00!). No cost. bit.ly/3IiQ3Y4