Art Of Divination Research Articles

The Metaphysics of Meaning: Aquinas and the Meaning of Life

Abstract While ‘the meaning of life’ has grown in prominence as a topic of philosophical inquiry, few Thomists have addressed it. Joshua Hochschild has recently offered a plausible explanation, arguing that ‘the meaning of life’ is a late modern ‘invention’, at home in a conceptual framework both philosophically problematic and incompatible with the principles of St. Thomas’ thought. He, therefore, counsels Catholic intellectuals to avoid the question of life’s meaning. I argue in contrast that St. Thomas offers the kind of metaphysical perspective that originally made ‘the meaning of life’ intelligible. First, I show that closer attention to the context in which the phrase emerges (that of German Romanticism) can clarify why much of the modern discourse on ‘the meaning of life’ succumbs to Hochschild’s critique. I then show that, even in the writings of its earliest modern proponents, we find compelling reasons to hold that ‘the meaning of life’ was always more at home within a Christian conceptual framework. Finally, I argue that St. Thomas’ account of providence and divine art in particular explain the purposefulness and significance of the world, such that Thomists who appeal to these notions are well positioned to address the question of life’s meaning in contemporary philosophical debates.

Symbolic art of the highest Artist: natural purposes in Kant’s third Critique

An interpretation of Immanuel Kant’s _Critique of the Power of Judgment_ is presented as a coherent whole rather than a collection of disconnected parts. I argue that Kant interprets natural beauty and the purposiveness of living things as symbols of the prowess and goodness of a supreme artist. These symbols support us in our pursuit of moral ends but are not the justification of that pursuit. All cognition of the inexplicable creative intelligence of the supreme artist is symbolic. We are subjectively certain that our moral vocation is the final purpose of nature. My reading proceeds in reverse order from the theological considerations of the _Methodology of the teleological judgment_ which derives a rational theology that is supported by (but not dependent on) physicotheology, via the _Critique of teleological judgement_ which analyzes the inexplicable artistry of living things as illustrations of the technique of the highest artist, via the _Critique of aesthetic judgment_ which sets up analogies between human and divine art, to the two introductions. The antinomy of teleological judgment is a cognitive illusion of the peculiar constitution (_intellectus ectypus_) of our cognitive faculties that explains wholes from parts: we must both conceive of living things as possible in accordance with efficient causes but we cannot conceive of them as possible except through final causes. In particular, it is the internal purposiveness of living things that is beyond our comprehension. If we had an _intellectus archetypus_, that explains parts from wholes, then we would not be subject to this cognitive illusion. The power of judgment adjudicates between reason, which is exalted by the sublime, and the understanding, which is humbled by the purposiveness of living things.

Review: Kabbalah and Sex Magic: A Mythical-Ritual Genealogy, by Marla Segol

Review: <i>Kabbalah and Sex Magic: A Mythical-Ritual Genealogy</i>, by Marla Segol

SUZAN-LORI PARKS AND NAOMI WALLACE IN RELATION: PLAYING THE AMERICAN GAME FOR REAL AND BEYOND.

wo American women whose writings for the theatre have been both nationally and internationally recognized, Suzan-Lori Parks and Naomi Wallace have drawn on the notion of game-playing to explore and undermine the inextricability of the power relations that govern their vision of America. Because theatre is about playing, games occupy a central position around which meaning revolves and multiplies on stage, infinitely magnified by Parks’s and Wallace’s poetic imagination. As far apart and unique as they are, their voices deeply resonate with the American landscape and beyond, echoing each other in ways that call for an examination of the correspondences that make their plays related, in the sense Edouard Glissant gave to the term, of a totality that does not exclude differences, of a meeting of pluralities, which is the stable/unstable ground of games, and of a place from where infinite beauty can spring. Parks’s The America Play and Wallace’s The War Boys, both written in the early 90s, evolved through a creative process that feeds on itself into the widely acclaimed Topdog/Underdog that earned Parks a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 and The Breach, which was produced at the Avignon Theatre Festival in 2019, expanding Wallace’s popularity in France. Through a comparative analysis of the poetics at work in these four plays, the aim of this article is to bring these two women’s voices together, placing them in relation without erasing their particularities to delineate the contours of a “relational poetics,” to again use Glissant’s terminology, one that evokes rather than explains, one that resurrects the past to reinvent our present and divine the future: an art of divination.

Al-Mas‘udi on the Important Personalities of the Arabic Olden Days. The Legendary Tradition about the Nizar’s Sons’ Partition of Fatherly Legacy

Among the materials of Murudj al-Dhahab wa Ma‘adin al-Djawhar (“The Meadows of Gold and the Mines of Gems”) by al-Mas‘udi (10th century), dedicated to pre-Islamic Arabia, one notes the legendary tradition about the sons of Nizar, the for-father of the so called Northern Arabs: Unable to comprehend their father’s testimony, they turned for help to the wise king al-Af‘a b. al-Af‘a al-Djuhumi. On their way to the sage and during their stay at his lodging Nizar’s sons manifested unusual power for insight, earned the host’s favour and managed with the king’s help to understand their father’s will. It appeared that the testimony later influenced Nizar’s sons’ descendants’ way of life, as well as that of the members of major Arab tribes and tribe unions. The author displays the folklore origin of the story under study and also shows that, from the viewpoint of al-Mas‘udi, Nizar’s sons proved to be the masters of kiyafa, the specific Bedouin art of divination. Some tribes and clans of their descendants were later renowned for practicing that sort of skill. In addition to the study the author presents an academic translation of al-Mas‘udi’s version of the legendary tradition under question, as it is framed by an important cultural and historical context. Besides, the legend as presented by al-Mas‘udi possesses uncontestable literary qualities. For the sake of comparison, the academic translation of the version, presented by al-Tabari (839–923), is also delivered.

Dante’s True Constellation: Writing the Stars in Aratus, Ovid, and Paradiso 13

This essay uses the constellation writing of Ovid and Aratus to gain comparative perspective upon Dante’s constellation writing in Paradiso 13. Though Dante did not know the Greek poetry of Aratus, the two authors share the goal of bringing the heavens into human view. For Aratus, the constellations are tools for enabling celestial observation. The constellations give form to the firmament. They enable observers to distinguish between stars and therefore to perceive and track celestial structure and motion. But the constellations do not leave a mark upon the sky. Rather, as Ovid’s poetry also helps show, they must continually be rediscovered and reformed through guided observation. The essay explores how these aspects of constellations help Dante to imagine unique forms of literary creativity in Paradiso 13. For Dante, the heavens need to be divided up by fictions in order to be described by poetry. But Dante’s constellation writing suggests how such fictions might not be etched onto the world once and for all. Instead, like constellations, they emerge in the moment of being perceived. In this sense, constellations help Dante to imagine creativity without impact; that is, human art that does not mark or change a preexisting environment. Dante’s constellations gain a sense of immediacy from their ephemerality and their reliance upon a perceiving viewer or reader. Constellation writing helps Dante to bridge the gap between human and divine art by turning human perception into a mirror of divine creation.

The Art of Divination in the Ancient Near East: Reading the Signs of Heaven and Earth by Stefan M. Maul

This book’s contribution to the wider scholarly corpus on divination and to the history of the philosophy associated with this belief system rests on the various ways in which the gods speak as well as on the messages received by earthly mediators. Reviewed by: Helen R. Jacobus, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Helen R. JacobusThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37726/28728 Corresponding Author: Helen R. Jacobus,University of ManchesterE-Mail: jacobus.helen@gmail.com

Gender Constructions in the Theological Dimension of the Sufi Premakhyans

Through the analysis of the Citravali (1613 ce) by Usman, this article explores the interrelation between aesthetics, gender and religion within the Indian Sufi romances (premakhyans) in Avadhi language. These narratives reinterpret the Sufi semantics of love, narrating the quest of the hero in yogic disguise in search of the heroine, portrayed as a divine woman. Usman creatively reimagines the heroine of his romance as an artist, drawing on this motif to trace the allegory of creation as divine art. Therefore, this article identifies conventional aesthetic patterns in Usman’s narrative reproducing relevant gender dynamics, such as the eroticized and yet idealized image of the heroine in relation to the hero’s spiritual growth, contrasting with the escalation of the villain’s sexual desire. The traditional Hindu setting of the story broadly reflects the socio-cultural norms of the North Indian world in early modern times, and implies gender hierarchies established by the local society. The intersection of these points in the Citravali suggests further reflections on the articulation of gender in a rich branch of Sufi literature composed in a regional language of India, which may open new perspectives in the interpretation of the relationship between mysticism and eroticism.

Socrates’ Apology and the Philosophical Art of Divination: the Delphic Oracle

Abstract This paper focuses on Socrates’ intention of examining (ἐλέγχειν) the Delphic oracle that concerns him. I argue that Socrates does not start out by refuting an apparent meaning of the oracle, as it has been suggested, but rather reacts to the perplexing posture in which the divine message places him. In this sense, the message—which becomes a lifetime mission for Socrates—has a performative sense, even though it does not have an explicit, prescriptive form. I try to show that Socrates’ philosophical life can be understood as a constant attempt to examine, as well as to prove the oracle, and that Socrates’ defense is a final examination and proof of the oracle.

Scholarly Milton. Edited by Thomas Festa and Kevin J. Donovan. Clemson, SC: Clemson University Press in association with Liverpool University Press, 2019. Pp. vii+295.

<i>Scholarly Milton</i>. Edited by Thomas Festa and Kevin J. Donovan. Clemson, SC: Clemson University Press in association with Liverpool University Press, 2019. Pp. vii+295.

The Art of the Diviner in the Ancient Near East: Reading the Signs of Heaven and Earth

The Art of the Diviner in the Ancient Near East: Reading the Signs of Heaven and Earth

The Art of Divination in the Ancient Near East: Reading the Signs of Heaven and Earth by Stefan M. Maul

The Art of Divination in the Ancient Near East: Reading the Signs of Heaven and Earth by Stefan M. Maul

Olaf Malms historie. Om en skjebnefigur i Vilhelm Bergsøes roman "Fra Piazza del Popolo"

In translation the title of this article would be: “The story of Olaf Malm: About a person of destiny in Vilhelm Bergsøes’s novel Fra Piazza del Populo”. The novel was published in 1867, and in many editions it is subtitled: “a cycle of short stories”. But this article is meant to show the reader that one of the stories, told by a character called “The old artist”, in itself can be read as a completed work of literature. The story of a young, Norwegian sculptor is meticulously composed, weaving a tissue of entangled threads of destiny. All his works are demolished, yet the protagonist finally appears as a creator of divine art. This is also an accomplishment both of the narrator: the old artist, and Bergsøe himself.

Who Speaks? Thirtieth Anniversary Dossier: Interventions

Who Speaks? Thirtieth Anniversary Dossier: Interventions

Mathematical Aspects of Sikidy

It emphasizes the mathematical aspects of the formation of sikidy. The sikidy as an art of divination is transmitted by oral tradition, the knowledge of these mathematical relationships allows for a more consistent language of sikidy. In particular, one can calculate systematically all ”into sikidy” special tables of Sikidy used in the ”ody” (kind of talismans).

“Booke, go thy wayes”

“Booke, go thy wayes”

Re-envisaging Ruskin’s Types: Beautiful Order as Divine Revelation

The 19th-century art critic John Ruskin offers an intriguing approach to nature as ‘divine art’: he sees in natural beauty ‘types’ or artistic images of the Godhead. Ruskin’s epistemology requires some refinement, but he offers a potentially fruitful approach to the divine revealed in the natural world. I reformulate Ruskin’s typology with reference to the epistemology of Michael Polanyi: through this approach, one may enter into Ruskin’s Christian ‘vision’ of nature with its unique symbolic ‘practice.’ From this standpoint, I develop Ruskin’s types relating to natural order. My claim, in line with Ruskin’s, is that within human experience of a beautiful world is a revelation of divine order.

Divine art, infernal machine: the reception of printing in the West from first impressions to the sense of an ending

Review of Elizabeth Eisenstein's book, Divine Art, Infernal Machine: The reception of Printing in the West from First Impressions to the Sense of an Ending, and why this history of the printing press is of interest to book artists.

THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE SUBLIME IN NATURAL SCIENCE

Abstract.The various aesthetic phenomena found repeatedly in the scientific enterprise stem from the role of God as artist. If the Creator is an artist, how and why natural scientists study the divine art work can be understood using theological aesthetics and the philosophy of art. The aesthetic phenomena considered here are as follows. First, science reveals beauty and the sublime in natural phenomena. Second, science discovers beauty and the sublime in the theories that are developed to explain natural phenomena. Third, the search for beauty often guides scientists in their work. Fourth, where beauty is perceived, feelings of the sublime often also follow upon further contemplation. This linkage of beauty in science with truth and the sublime runs counter to most aesthetic theory since Kant. Scholarship in theological aesthetics has recently argued that the modern and postmodern elevation of the sublime over beauty is merely a preference that reveals a bias against transcendence—against God. If doing and understanding science can show this sundering of the sublime from the beautiful to be in error, science also gives evidence of transcendence.

Divination expressed through poetry: The divinatory poems of Johannes Mokgwadi

This article aims to explore the divinatory poems of Johannes Mokgwadi with special reference to their structure, role and tools of performance in the art of divination as practised still today by the Bapedi in some rural areas of South Africa. Cultural verse forms in ‘the poetry of divinatory bones’, as this form of poetry may be called (due to the set of divinatory bones used in the process of divination), will be outlined through a discussion of metrical compositions, long-measure verse, long-measure ‘echo’ or repetition verse, divinatory poems with linked hemistichs, divinatory poems with repeated segments, long-measure triplet verse, and verses of four, five or more hemistichs. These form designs are intended to achieve maximum impact when recited. The role of the traditional healer as an intermediary figure between the gods and his people will be indicated. Divinatory poems are shrouded in secrecy, as they are intended for listening (by targeted addressees) and not for reading (by the general public), for communication with ancestors and not for performance before an audience in public gatherings. The discussion of the divinatory apparatus serves to shed light on the symbolism of the key icons in the selected extracts from the poetry.