Beauty, Power, Building: An Introduction to Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Architecture

Why do some buildings move us while others repel us? How does architecture shape not just our physical shelter but our sense of meaning, identity, and justice? This course examines the built environment as a philosophical problem, exploring how beauty, power, and construction intersect in the spaces we inhabit every day. We engage major aesthetic theories—from Plato's ideals and Immanuel Kant's rigorous analysis to phenomenology's intimate spaces and contemporary critical perspectives—while grounding abstract ideas in concrete buildings one can see, touch, and experience. Students learn to read architecture philosophically, asking not just whether buildings are beautiful, but what beauty means, whose interests they serve, and what obligations builders have to justice and sustainability. This course matters because architecture is unavoidable. Unlike museum art, buildings surround us constantly, shaping our moods, movements, and possibilities. Yet we rarely examine them critically. Whether you are interested in design, philosophy, social justice, environmental ethics, or simply want to understand your everyday surroundings more deeply, this course transforms how you see the world. Students leave equipped to analyze buildings as aesthetic objects, political statements, and ethical commitments, recognizing that what we build reveals what we value and imagining what we ought to build next.