Cartesian logic

The most intractable problem in applying radically inventive architectural thinking comes not so much from the invincibility of the prevailing system of reasoning as from an intrinsic flaw in that system's structure. Cartesian logic posits the existence of fundamental dualities that can never, by its own rules, be entirely rationalized, just as the orthogonal frame can never be completely stabilized. Thus, presumed opposites remain unreconciled. So it is with the "man versus nature" paradigm. From this follows the belief that it is rational to tame or defeat nature – including "human nature," the source of all uncivilized, unsocialized behavior – by insisting on applying an abstract spatial system even when it has been proven inadequate in coping with particular conditions.

Lebbeus Woods, Radical Reconstruction (Princeton Architectural Press, 1997) p. 21