RW Spryszak's Blog

"The Production of Space"

The Production of Space by Henri Lefebvre

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Even with a thick dictionary and a grounding in philosophy over the last thousand years this book is largely unreadable. Lefebvre wrote this before science decided that "space" can exist without anything in it, and is a structure in and of itself without the need for matter to justify it. Therefore his opening proposition about the historical uses of the concept of "space" is dated, just like the rest of the text. With that explanation Lefebvre becomes inconsequential from the first page. This is a good book to place in the realm of "the evolution of philosophy," if that is your line of study, but after that - and in the modern age - it is completely superfluous. I have a sneaking suspicion that people who view this as a seminal or important work either said that thirty years ago or are faking it altogether.



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