Harry Bertoia – Untitled, 1943

New Measures of Contextual Understanding: #32 Replacing Philosophy and Religion with Psychology and Linguistics Theory, a Political Enigma and Gibberish Academic Subject Arranged Artfully in a Mostly Horrific Juxtaposition

George Grosz - The Agitator, 1928

Monster from the Id - Forbidden Planet, 1956

1984 Issue #3, "the most offensive story in horror comics" - a note from Terrance Lindall

Terrace Lindall writes:

Warren Magazines were the foremost horror magazines of the 20th century. The success of Warren, can be laid at Archie Goodwin’s door and gave Marvel, DC  & Charlton the desire to reenter the horror field.  Charlton provided a home base for Steve Ditko, Pat Boyette, Rocco Mastroserio and other Warren artists.  Marvel copied Warren when it began its color horror line in 1969. I asked James Warren if I could do a cover for Warren's 1984, but he said that Dubay decides that for 1984. I did end upon the French version of 1984 with a cover that was considered the best ever for Warren. See attached.

Bill Dubay who had a blank check to create anything he wanted in horror comics. Issue 3 of 1984 features the single most offensive story in Warren history, "The Harvest" where corporations have set up various gaming preserves. A father and his son go hunting where it is revealed that they are hunting black people, treated as animals, and are brutally murdered to provide food for the white protagonists. Could it get even worse than that? It does! The ending of the story features the boy shooting a pregnant woman, with the father tearing her baby out of her and talking about serving it as veal.

Here is the image:

Interested in the history of these magazines? See James Warren: Empire of Monsters. Amazon description linked to the image below. Mr. Lindall gets a mention on page 267.

Wassily Kandinsky - Circles in a Circle (1923)

The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (マダムと女房, Madamu to nyōbō) 1931

"Concerto Spaciale"

                                                          - Lucio Fontana, 1949

Kinetic Painting III

Francis Michael Celentano (American, 1928–2016). "Kinetic Painting III," 1967. Acrylic on Masonite with motor. Diameter: 48 inches (121.9 cm). Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum. Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1968 (K1968:8)

The Great Sea Serpent as Seen from the Ship Hydaspes

New Measures of Contextual Understanding: #18 The Interlocutory Medium of Visual Allegory in the Mating Ritual as a Means of Fine Arts Promotion

Modern Rhapsody - Salvador Dalí

"Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dali" by George Orwell

The Love of Zero, 1928

Plato's "paleo-technocratic" politics: the criteria of Justice and Eudemonia

On the matter of Plato's "paleo-technocratic" politics, the Republic is appropriately (and characteristically) ambiguous. With Plato it is always important to keep context in mind, and in respect to the Republic the purpose of the dialogue is to define "Justice". Approached from this angle, Plato's "utopian" vision clearly shows that moral and political philosophies predicated on the criterion of "Justice" will lead to an insufferable dystopia, with all the gory details amply dilated upon in Plato's descriptions.

Plato's Laws, however, is less ambiguous. Clearly, the fellow comes across as a totalitarian, tyranny-mongering aristocrat. In view of the world he lived in, maybe he has a point. And that is certainly how German political philosophers like Leo Strauss view totalitarianism; that is, they believe, upon "scientific" grounds, that totalitarianism is a desirable state of affairs. One would think Strauss, after finding in America salvation from the Nazi's, would have embraced the land of Jefferson... Does it over-simplify the matter to assert that Strauss is "just another ogre" from the Continent who reviles English freedoms, who loathes the middle-classes, who hates Christianity, and so on?

Meanwhile, rather than "Justice," Plato elsewhere advocates Eudemonia (or "Happiness") as the criterion for Ethics and political philosophy. Clearly, in this matter he agrees with Aristotle. But there is an important distinction. Plato argues for Eudemonia in the next life, in eternity; this world and the meager "good things" in this life are to be eschewed. On the other hand, Aristotle argues for pursuing Eudemonia in this life as well as the next. Aristotle agrees with Plato, however, in stating that the ultimate purpose of happiness in this life is to contemplate God (see link below).

In theory, the distinction attends their disagreements over Plato's theory of forms. What Aristotle did was use the criterion of Eudemonia to argue for a large middle-class. Rather than utilitarian grounds (though as a matter of outcomes he satisfies these requirements), Aristotle seats his concept of Eudemonia in something comparing to Plato's emphasis on coming into contact with God.

"Eudemonia." as Aristotle conceives it, is politically (and Platonically) "writ large" in Locke and Jefferson (again, see the link below for Sir Anthony Kenny on Aristotle's Eudemonia).

Kenny elsewhere has difficulty equating Aristotle's Eudemonia with our English word "Happiness", but of course we have to keep in mind that Kenny is no Lockean or Jeffersonian. He is English, and the English don't expect to be "happy." Ahem. But Eudemonia of course is embedded--and forcefully--in the American Declaration of Independence, and that concept of Happiness, via Locke, Aquinas, Christianity and Judaism, compares precisely with Aristotle's vision.

Aristotle and the Meaning of Eudaimonia

Plato and Aristotle viewing a beautiful landscape

Cardboard Spaceship by Jean-Paul L. Garnier

Cardboard Spaceship is a collection of twenty-one science fiction short stories from Jean-Paul L. Garnier, with an introduction by Michael Butterworth. I've read the manuscript. It a fine collection of stories reflecting contemporary literary trends in science fiction and fantasy.

Click the cover image for more information:

 

"River"

The Bottomless Bottle of Beer

Artist Terrance Lindall has embarked up on a campaign to promote The Bottomless Bottle of Beer. What follows is one of his efforts, an email he is sending out to his contacts:

The Bottomless Bottle of Beer!

JUST RELEASED!!!

NOW ON SALE!!! On behalf of International Authors I am happy to announce the publication of The Bottomless Bottle of Beer by Horace Jeffery Hodges.   Drawn down into a subterranean realm, our beer loving brother encounters the mysterious Koroviev, the seductive Hella, diabolical Beelzebub, monstrous Behemoth, and other famous fiends from literature and myth. But he fails to recognize them, and so finds himself in danger of losing his soul; indeed, without even knowing he has a soul. Through his wife’s practical energy and unfailing love, he succeeds in returning home, though profoundly transformed.   $20 on Amazon!   Discounts for Bookstores and retailers inquires: iasubmissions@hotmail.com   Featuring color illustrations by Terrance Lindall pf Creepy, Eerie, Heavy Metal etc.    Sincerely, Carter Kaplan  International Authors Click the cover image for the Amazon description and reviews:

­ ­

Williamsburg Art & Historical Center 344 Grand Street #3, 11211, Brooklyn

Highbrow Wisdom from Benjamin Franklin

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."  

Benjamin Franklin by David Martin, 1766

Suggested Reading: Aristotle, Milton, Locke, American Political Philosophy, Analytic Philosophy

Reading submissions for Emanations 11 is time-consuming. In the meantime, I recommend the following links. 

Since posting, I have made a slight-but-significant revision to the "Sources for an American Idea of Revolution" where the reader will find, towards the end, a link leading to a dilation upon the theme of Milton and the uses of the "Synoptic Surview" (the literary exercise of Analytic Philosophy) in the examination of grammar, epistemology, ethics and political philosophy. Herein lies the direct progression from Milton to Analytic Philosophy, as well as the progression from Analytic Philosophy to Milton.  

Aristotle and the Meaning of Eudemonia

Milton, Locke & Jefferson

Hobbes vs. Locke 

Sources for an American idea of Revolution

Nationalism in the United States and Europe

Nationalism: American and European Formulations

Was there an Enlightenment?
Plato and Technocracy

Is "What is the Meaning of Life?" a Philosophical Question?

Contemporary Political Culture, Continued

"John Milton meeting Galileo" by Solomon Alexander Hart, 1847

Kings County Savings Bank Building, Historical Collections

From Bottomless Bottle of Beer illustrator Terrance Lindall, here is an on-line brochure describing various treasures from the Kings County Savings Bank Building, now home of the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center.

Click the image to view:

The Bottomless Bottle of Beer by Horace Jeffery Hodges has been published

The Bottomless Bottle of Beer is now available.

A summer of discontent may transform the city around us, challenge our self-understanding, and leave us profoundly changed. The hero of this story has one of those experiences. Drawn down into a subterranean realm, he encounters the mysterious Koroviev, the seductive Hella, diabolical Beelzebub, monstrous Behemoth, and other famous fiends from literature and myth. But he fails to recognize them, and so finds himself in danger of losing his soul; indeed, without even knowing he has a soul. Through his wife’s practical energy and unfailing love, he succeeds in returning home, though profoundly transformed.

Featuring color illustrations by Terrance Lindall.

Please click the cover image to view the Amazon description:

Max Ernst - Comet, 1956 (wool tie-stitch rug)

Reading submissions

For Emanations 11.  See HERE.