ABSTRACT
The existence of an architectural tradition and the appropriateness of its analysis and dissemination by written language are simply assumed. Architecture is not unique in this regard. As a discipline, it participates in the illusory totalizing project common to other aspects of culture. Music and sculpture, science and medicine, politics and religion are all represented in contemporary society as legitimate descendants of earlier human practices. Architecture differs primarily in its success: the general public assumes that architects of ten centuries ago, this past century, and those of today are engaged in essentially the same activities for similar ends, little round glasses and black garb not withstanding. When differences between present and past are noted, they are explained away. Today architecture is often described as pluralistic: a loose collection of varied solitary aims resulting in a series of minor architectures built for their own expression.
