Civic Art, Civic Life and Urbanism

Creator

Westfall, Carroll William
- Other Affiliation: Frank Montana Professor and Chairman, School of Architecture, University of Notre Dame

Abstract

Let me lay out some premises of what follows. These premises can be known, but they cannot be proven. They reside in the realm of articles of faith, of propositions that are self-evident to the wise, and in the domain of truth. They belong in nature, and knowing them helps define human nature. One such point is this: The mature, sane person understands that the most urgent task he faces is the one posited in the New Testament and posed by the Delphic oracle: Know thyself. Another is this: There have been wise people before us who have something useful to teach us. There is a third one: To know oneself, to draw on what others have to teach, requires participation a community, or more precisely, in three communities. One is composed of those who have preceded us and with whom we have an affiliation. Another is made up of our contemporaries. And a third is formed from those yet to come whose lives we will have improved through our actions. And finally there is this: Not all things are of equal value. Things that promote knowledge of oneself, things whose value has allowed them to survive across time, and things that bind us across time and into communities are to be valued above all other things.

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