The Modern Scholar: Classic Foundations Audiobook By Professor Carroll William Westfall cover art

The Modern Scholar: Classic Foundations

Purpose and Tradition in Architecture

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Modern Scholar: Classic Foundations

By: Professor Carroll William Westfall
Narrated by: Professor Carroll William Westfall
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.75

Buy for $13.75

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

In this engaging series of lectures, Carroll William Westfall, the University of Notre Dame's Frank Montana Professor of Architecture, delves into the classical principles of Western architecture. Exploring features such as ornamentation, decoration, and innovation, Professor Westfall shows how architecture is derived from the very principles that form the cornerstones of our civilization - and, with scholarly precision, he also demonstrates how this field of endeavor is rooted in nature itself.

©2012 Carroll William Westfall (P)2012 Crescite Group, LLC Art Architecture Design
All stars
Most relevant  
It can be very better if rearranged & re-narrated in a more enthusiastic voice. Recommended for early architectural students.

Instructive but Boring

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Any additional comments?



In this short series of lectures, Professor Westfall brilliantly underscores the value of tradition in the fields of architecture and city building.  His points of view have clearly been polished by years of consideration and he integrates a variety of fields in his discussions: philosophy, history, political science, etc.

He succeeds in speaking of architecture without any illustrations.  Thus, though he largely shares the same positions, he comes out as the complement of Léon Krier who often expresses himself with drawings and very little text.

It must be pointed out that Professor Westfall, though critical of modernism,  is not at all closed to modernity.

Truly fascinating!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love looking at the arc of history and
it delivered on that. The hypothesis and conclusions are a bit muddy to me, but it is interesting to hear his point of view.

Subject is interesting, delivery lackluster

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Was looking for the history and philosophy of architecture and came out with learning about a breadth of topics on not just architecture but also on urban planning and ultimately what it means to be a human living in a urban society. Even ended up buying a book written by Prof. Westfall to learn more about the subject.

A gem of an articulate lecture

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
When I read the poor reviews, I had to give it a listen to see what was so outrageous. The answer is, Westfall is not WOKE, which is apparently the offending factor. He is also old, white, and seems to believe in God... Outrageous.

The lectures where a refreshing discussion of how architecture developed with Western Civilization. Very interesting and profound. Also enjoyed the use of the male pronoun for mankind, music to my ears.

Beauty is Truth and Truth Beauty that is all you need to know!

Poor Reviews got my Interest

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
More concerned with smoothing out architectural history and fighting modernist straw men than discussing Classical architecture.

Unstable foundation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.