61 – “Critique of ‘On the Nature of Gothic’” Pye Ch 10

“Handmade” does not mean “shoddy.” This latest episode of the David Pye mini-series tackles chapter 10 of The Nature and Art of Workmanship in which Pye takes John Ruskin to task for his sloppy reasoning about workmanship. Pye’s motivation in writing his book was to critique the “illegitimate extensions” of Ruskin’s ideas about art and pleasure in work. He believed that a more precise analysis would clear up this muddy thinking so that the crafts could be recovered and dignified once again.