Meaning
Shahrur holds that beauty comes after function has been realized, not before it and not in place of it. The primary basis of a thing or an act is fulfilling its practical purpose; beauty is then added as a subsequent stage that completes it without changing its foundation.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: axiological.
- Argument movement: beauty comes after function, not before it and not in place of it.
- Central terms: beauty, function, performance, subsequent stage.
- Degree of centrality: secondary.
This atom makes function primary and beauty a subsequent element that completes it. It gives priority to practical purpose before ornamentation or beautification.
Links That Aid Reading
- Muhammad Shahrur: the Book and the Qur’an
- Critique of Heritage, Jurisprudence, and Exegesis
- Poetry and Literature Stand at the Top of the Artistic Pyramid
Evidence
- Supporting text: “He presents beauty as a stage subsequent to function.”
Location of the Evidence in the Book
- Book: the Book and the Qur’an.
- Location: in the final section of the book, in the discussion of the development of architectural consciousness from need to aesthetic abstraction.
- Type of evidence: close textual witness.
- Verification marker: the stage of aesthetic abstraction
- Reading note: this passage is suitable because it presents function as prior to beauty, then explicitly mentions the stage of aesthetic abstraction.
Degree of Documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted directly.
Its Function in the Book
Its function here is argumentative: it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares the way for it.
Related To
Note for the Reader
For him, it is connected to the ordering of artistic and intellectual values.