Table 1 Criticisms of Alexander’s second theory of architecture: conceptualisation
From: Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language: analysing, mapping and classifying the critical response
| [#] | Issue | A# | Criticism | S# | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ontology | – | Rejecting pluralistic values confuses subjective and objective phenomena | 3 | (Saunders 2002a, 2003; Bhatt 2010) |
| 2 | Ontology | – | Alternate experiences and social, political and economic realities are incompatible with Alexander’s world view | 3 | (Montgomery 1970; Broadbent 1980; Davis 1983; Dovey 1990; Salingaros 2000, Elsheshtawy 2001; Kohn 2002; Saunders 2002a; Walker 2003; Mehaffy 2008; Bhatt 2010; Kalb 2014) |
| 3 | Ontology | 1, 2 | The timeless way of building is the only valid means for creating beautiful environments | 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17,18, 19, 20, 21, 22 | (Broadbent 1980; Protzen 1980; Dovey 1990; Lang 1994) |
| 4 | Epistemology | – | Alexander’s definition of ‘science’ excludes many tenets of scholarly research | 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 18 | (Alexander 2002a,b; Saunders 2002a) |