DOI: 10.19830/j.upi.2021.065
Towards a Three-Dimensional Dialectic: Lefebvre’s Theory of the Production of Space

Written by Christian Schmid, Translated by Yang Shan, Proofread by Zhu Tianyu

Keywords: Lefebvre; The Production of Space; Three-dimensionality; Dialectics; Theory of Language; Phenomenology

Abstract:

This article examines the three hitherto neglected aspects that are crucial to an understanding of Lefebvre’s theory. First, a specific concept of dialectics that are grounded on the German dialectics of Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche; second, his own Nietzsche-oriented theory of language; third, the influence from French phenomenology. Based on the analysis, this article reconstructures and underlines the three-dimensionality of Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space. The author analyses the three-dimensional figures from the linguistic perspective, which are spatial practice, the representation of space, and the space of representation, and the other three-dimensional ones from the phenomenological perspective, which are perceived space, conceived space, and lived space. With reconstructing the theory of space production, this article criticizes some of today’s most influential interpretations, which, including that from Harvey, Soja, Shields, and Elden, contribute more to confusion than to clarification.

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