Infinity and Perspective. (Hero to Infinity).

By Karsten Harries, London: MIT Press. 2001. [pounds sterling]25.95

Freedom has been a defining theme of the modern era and, guided by a new objectivity and rationality stimulated by the scientific enlightenment, humanity has been liberated from subjectivity, mysticism, and -- as Nietzsche argued in the nineteenth century -- even God. But as Karsten Harries argues convincingly in Infinity and Perspective, science and technology have only partly filled the vacuum left by the 'death of God', and the gains need to be weighed against what humanity has lost in the process of liberation, including a sense of stability and self-worth.

Harries traces a journey through the evolution of modernity commencing with Copernicus and his revelation of an infinite modern cosmos of which the earth and humans are just a tiny part. Out goes the house-like image of the medieval cosmos, and Harries highlights the influential philosophical realignments framed by the Renaissance scholar Nicholas of Cusa, alongside the exploration of perspective by his contemporary Leon Battista Alberti, a philosophical and practical construct that located man at the centre of the universe. The principal dilemma of the modern edifice is outlined in relation to Enlightenment thinking, and especially Newton, who could find no scientific evidence of a physical God in the universe. If God is incorporeal, Newton determined that God must be everywhere, pervading the infinite.

Karsten Harries explains shifting intellectual perspectives with great clarity, both historically and philosophically. And although this is not a book that focuses on architecture directly, architects will find his account illuminating and highly readable. He concludes with America's journey into outerspace and questions the point of delving ever deeper into the infinity of the universe when the real challenges for humanity are at home. Harries proposes that we leave space to science and refocus our attention on making a success of dwelling on earth. Certainly, as place-makers will concur, it is better.