Peirce and iconology

habitus, embodiment, and the analogy between philosophy and architecture

Tullio Viola

in: Pragmatism and the social sciences 2, European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 4 (1), 2012.

Abstract

“[I]t is the belief men betray, and not that which they parade which has to be studied.” This short Peircean sentence has been the subject of important yet underrated attention in the reception of Peirce’s philosophy, passing through the art historians Edgar Wind and Erwin Panofsky and arriving finally at Bourdieu. This paper explores the affinities between Peirce’s and Panofksy’s thinking, as well as their historical connections and their common sources, taking its cue from an analysis of the similar arguments the two authors offer to justify the analogy between Gothic architecture and Scholasticism. The fulcrum for the comparison between Peirce and Panofsky is located in the writings of Edgar Wind: a leading figure, this article proposes, in the history of European pragmatism.

Cited authors

Panofsky Erwin

Wind Edgar

Peirce Charles Sanders