Abstract
In the process of making bedsteads, Plato claimed, makers look towards the ‘idea’ of the bed. But what is that idea? Two candidates come to mind: shape and purpose. The fact that we identify objects of very different shape, not even involving a bedstead, as beds seems to render purpose conceptually superior. But, then, what is a bed’s purpose? An obvious response appears tobe: lying down and sleeping. Yet, first, beds are not needed for that. Secondly, precisely when a bed is slept on, it is not perceived as a design object. Thirdly, beds constitute a kind of existential furniture, associated with giving birth, making love, suffering illness and dying. All such issues humans really care about, however, are strikingly indifferent towards the design of beds. As elsewhere, the maxim that form follows function fails. Design thinking might rather make headway when beds are conceived of as peculiar spaces within spaces.
Literatur
Athenaios (1985), Dipnosophistarum libri 15 [um 228 n. Chr.], 3 Bde., hg. v. Kaibel, G., Stuttgart.Search in Google Scholar
Börjesson, A. S. (2002), Concept Design for Supporting Rest or Sleep in Public Environments, Stockholm.Search in Google Scholar
Burgess, A. (1982), On Going to Bed, New York.Search in Google Scholar
Cieraad, I. (2005), A Nation under Reconstruction Never Sleeps: The Rise and Fall of the Dutch Wall Bed, in: Journal of Design History 18.2, 167–177.10.1093/jdh/epi022Search in Google Scholar
Gentle, N. (2001), A Study of the Late Seventeenth-Century State Bed from Melville House, in: The Furniture History Society 37, 1–16.Search in Google Scholar
Gentle, N. (2009), Lord Rochester’s Bed, in: The Furniture History Society 54, 35–54.Search in Google Scholar
Genzel, E., u. Voigt, P. (2005), Kunststoffbauten 1: Die Pioniere, Weimar.Search in Google Scholar
González, E. (2004), Odysseus’ Bed and Cleopatra’s Mattress, in: Modern Language Notes 119.5, 930–948.10.1353/mln.2005.0009Search in Google Scholar
Handler, S. (1992), A Little World Made Cunningly: The Chinese Canopy Bed, in: Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society 2.6, 4–27.Search in Google Scholar
Harten, A. J. van (2003), Theology in Plato’s Republic and Laws, Cambridge.Search in Google Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (1837), Vorlesungen über die Aesthetik 2 [1818–1831] (= Werke 10), hg. v. Hotho, H. G., Berlin.Search in Google Scholar
Homer (1837), Odyssee [um 700 v. Chr.], übers. v. Voß, J. H., hg. v. Voss, A., Leipzig [Od.].Search in Google Scholar
Humphrey, J. W., Olseon, J. P., u. Sherwood, A. N. (2003), Greek and Roman Technology: A Sourcebook, London.10.4324/9780203413258Search in Google Scholar
Jean Paul (1990), Vorschule der Ästhetik [1804/1813], hg. v. Henckmann, W., Hamburg.10.28937/978-3-7873-2318-0Search in Google Scholar
Kristeller, P . O. (1989), Die Ideen als Gedanken der menschlichen und göttlichen Vernunft, Heidelberg.Search in Google Scholar
Kyrieleis, H. (1969), Throne und Klinen. Studien zur Formgeschichte altorientalischer und griechischer Sitz- und Liegemöbel vorhellenistischer Zeit, Berlin.Search in Google Scholar
Lauer, C. (2016), Intimacy: A Dialectical Study, London u. New York.10.5040/9781474226295Search in Google Scholar
Lewis, M. (2000), Theoretical Hydraulics, Automata, and Water Clocks, in: Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, hg. v. Wikander, Ö., Leiden, 343–370.10.1163/9789004473829_018Search in Google Scholar
Littmann, E. (1924), Morgenländische Wörter im Deutschen, 2. Aufl., Tübingen.Search in Google Scholar
Martin, G. (1973), Platons Ideenlehre, Berlin u. New York.10.1515/9783110839432Search in Google Scholar
Marx, K. (1977), Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie 1: Der Produktionsprozeß des Kapitals [1867] (= Marx-Engels-Werke 23), hg. v. Institut für Marxismus-Leninismus beim ZK der SED, 12. Aufl., Berlin.Search in Google Scholar
Montanus, H. (1995), Der kranke Heine, Stuttgart u. Weimar.10.1007/978-3-476-03580-6Search in Google Scholar
Paz, O. (1981), Tisch und Bett, in: Der menschenfreundliche Menschenfresser [1971], übers. v. Wittkopf, R., u. Heupel, C., Frankfurt am Main, 136–169.Search in Google Scholar
Platon (1991a), Politeia [um 370 v. Chr.], übers. v. F. Schleiermacher (= Sämtliche Werke 5), grch.-dt., hg. v. Hülser, K., Frankfurt am Main.Search in Google Scholar
Platon (1991b), Protagoras [um 395 v. Chr.], übers. v. Schleiermacher, F., in: Sämtliche Werke 1, grch.-dt., hg. v. Hülser, K., Frankfurt am Main, 61–195.Search in Google Scholar
Reisner, G. A. (1932), The Bed Canopy of the Mother of Cheops, in: Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 30.180, 56–60.Search in Google Scholar
Remington, P. (1924), The Rushbrooke Bed, in: Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York 19.6, 137 (Abb.) u. 140–141.10.2307/3254514Search in Google Scholar
Rostek, C. (2012), New Light on Thomas Chippendale’s Seat Furniture and ‚Best‘ Bed at Dumfries House, Ayrshire, in: The Furniture History Society 48, 141–154.Search in Google Scholar
Schopenhauer, A. (1862), Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit [1851], in: Parerga und Paralipomena 1, hg. v. Frauenstädt, J., 2. Aufl., Berlin, 331–530.Search in Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W. (2008), Macbeth [1606], hg. v. Braunmuller, A. R., Cambridge.10.1017/9780511810381Search in Google Scholar
Solmsen, F. (1942), Plato’s Theology, Ithaca, N. Y.Search in Google Scholar
Sorabji, R. (1983), Time, Creation and the Continuum: Theories in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, London.Search in Google Scholar
Vegetti, M. (2007), Guida alla lettura della Repubblica di Platone, Rom u. Bari.Search in Google Scholar
Waterfield, R. (1993), Explanatory Notes, in: Plato, Republic, übers. v. dems., Oxford u. New York, 380–457.Search in Google Scholar
White, N. P. (1980), A Companion to Plato’s Republic, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
