Gore Vidal: Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace

How We Got to Be So Hated

Nation Books, 2002     Amazon.com

Book Description:

The United States has been engaged in what the great historian Charles A. Beard called “perpetual war for perpetual peace.” The Federation of American Scientists has cataloged nearly 200 military incursions since 1945 in which the United States has been the aggressor. In a series of penetrating and alarming essays, whose centerpiece is a commentary on the events of September 11, 2001 (deemed too controversial to publish in this country until now) Gore Vidal challenges the comforting consensus following September 11th and goes back and draws connections to Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. He asks were these simply the acts of “evil-doers”?

“Gore Vidal is the master essayist of our age.”  Washington Post

“Our greatest living man of letters.”  Boston Globe

“Vidal’s imagination of American politics is so powerful as to compel awe.”  Harold Bloom, The New York Review of Books

Reviews:

“Vidal writes with verve, passion and style that complements [his] controversial views.”  Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs, Sept/Oct 2002

“[Vidal] provides plenty of examples to sustain his shimmering abhorrence for current American politics…Challenging as ever.”  Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2002

John Kekes: Against Liberalism

Cornell University Press, 1997     Amazon.com

Blurbs:

“John Kekes’s Against Liberalism offers compelling argumentation for the position that liberalism denies the very conditions it requires for its sustenance. As a consequence, liberal policies are inconsistent and self-defeating. Rarely has such a forthright and well-constructed argument been made against liberalism’s misguided flirtation with utopianism.”  Herbert London

“This book deserves a place on the same shelf with Burke, Tocqueville, and Hayek. From now on no one counts as a serious conservative – even less, as a serious liberal – who has not paid it close attention.”  Wallace Matson, University of California, Berkeley

“One of the many merits of John Kekes’s Against Liberalism is its careful argument that the priority attached to individual autonomy in recent liberal philosophies is unreasonable. In any sensibly pluralistic view, autonomy is only one among the necessary conditions…of human well-being. Others – such as peace, social cohesion and a healthy environment – are just as important. Further…these other components of the human good cannot always be made compatible with autonomy…Kekes’s central, unanswerable argument is that in unreasonably emphasizing the good of autonomy, recent liberalism evades the reality of such conflicts of values…Kekes’s imaginative and provocative book is only one of many unmistakable evidences of the passing of the Rawlsian regime in political philosophy. The ongoing dissolution of that liberal hegemony is a sign that pluralism is at last reaching into intellectual life. As a result, political philosophy may be able to reconnect with the world that it was once supposed to be about.”  John Gray, Times Literary Supplement

“Kekes performs a useful task in identifying the contradictions in liberal political theory.”  Kenneth R. Craycraft, Jr., The University Bookman

“A comprehensive, pointed and fair critique of the…assumptions that lie behind liberal policies, [Kekes’s book] demonstrates why the old liberal idea of giving people the moral autonomy to choose and live out good lives must, because of its self-contradictions, fail.”  Robert Royal, Review of Metaphysics

“Incorporating his previous reflection about the relationship of character and morality, this work stands out in what is otherwise a well-populated chorus of questioners of liberalism.”  John J. Barrett, Theological Studies

Against Liberalism relentlessly questions and rejects…common assumptions of contemporary political philosophy…Unlike many of liberalism’s opponents, Kekes makes a serious effort to understand liberalism’s basic claims…A provocative and challenging book for students of political philosophy.”  Samuel R. Freeman, Ethics

“Kekes’s book is very good; it is filled with arguments that are deep, complex and lively.”  Shadia Drury, Toronto Globe and Mail

Against Liberalism is a provocative and engaging book…What Kekes offers us is in fact amounts to a vivid external critique, on the basis of a less optimistic view of human nature. At its best, it is a powerful reminder that liberals had better take evil seriously too.”  Norbert Awander, Zurich University, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice

About the Author:

John Kekes is Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy at the State University of New York at Albany.

Monaden och helheten

Hauser förtydligar hur Leibniz utöver perceptio – det enda i detta sammanhang aktuella begrepp som Renaut behandlar, dock utan att uppehålla sig vid dess helhetliga begreppssammanhang och därmed dess fulla innebörd – ursprungligen också använder begreppen representatio och expressio, och framlyfter, bl.a. ur Monadologin, centrala formleringar av typen “toute substance est comme un monde entier et comme un miroir de Dieu ou bien de tout l’univers, qu’elle exprime chacune à sa façon”, “chaque substance simple a des rapports qui expriment toutes les autres, et…elle est par consequent un miroir vivant perpetuel de l’univers”, och “chaque Monade creée represente tout l’univers”. [Cit. i op.cit. 63, Hausers kursiv.] Här framstår väl spegeln i mindre grad som analogi, och de högst utvecklade monaderna ska naturligtvis förstås som samtidigt speglande och själva medvetet seende det speglade.

Genom formuleringar som dessa, och genom att Leibniz har ett begrepp om helhetens enhet, som väl dock ska vara det som, om än på unika sätt, avspeglas av monaderna, motverkas, tycker man, den rena individualism som Renaut framläser. Med Hausers ord: “die Monaden [können] als Teile (partes totales) des Universums als des einen Ganzen aufgefasst werden…wobei jeder dieser Teile das Ganze repräsentiert und es in sich konzentriert”; “der Repräsentationscharakter jeder Monade qua ‘miroir de Dieu’ [ist] in ontologischer Hinsicht eine infinitesimale Konkretion der einen Ur-Monade Gott”; “jede Monade [ist] prinzipiell – wenn auch in erkenntnistheoretischer Hinsicht in je gewissem Grade verworren – in jedem infinitesimal kleinen Moment Darstellung oder Ausdruck des einen, unendlichen Weltganzen”. [Ibid. 64 f.; Hauser framhåller också hur Leibniz använder repraesentatio i sammanhang med en medeltida teologisk och naturteleologisk uppfattning av de skapade varelserna som återgivande och delaktiga i det gudoma.] Och denna framställning eller detta uttryck sker enligt “[die] erkenntnistheoretisch [fundierte] Beschränkung der geschaffenen Substanzen gemäss ihrer jeweiligen individuellen und perspektivischen Konkretion als perceptio“. [Ibid. 68.]

Det ändligas förhållande till det oändliga, det relativas till det absoluta, förstås av Leibniz i enlighet med den monadernas gradering som följer ur den varierande distinktheten i deras respektive uppfattningar av helheten; alla monaders uppfattning, utom den högsta urmonadens, är underkastade ändlighetens och relativitetens perspektiviska och klarhetsmässiga gränser. Vissa nimmer helheten i högre grad eller s.a.s. bättre än andra, men alla nimmer dock helheten, och i det även de som nimmer den i lägre grad eller sämre dock nimmer den på ett unikt sätt, är även dessa nödvändiga i helheten.

Den centrala visionen blir väl så en vision som i lika hög grad betonar det allmänna och enheten som det enskilda och mångfalden, varvid helhetens status belyses: allmän i förhållande till de underordnade monaderna, men samtidigt i sig, som allmänhet, identisk med den högsta monaden, som, som sådan, ju också förstås är individuell.

I rörelsen mot fördjupad individualitetsuppfattning kvarhålles också delvis, om än i distinkt förnyad, delvis nyplatonsk omformning, den äldre generalistiska traditionen, men den allmänna helhet som de underordnade monaderna speglar är ju också den högsta monadens individualitet. Helheten kunde därför synas uppfattas som allmän blott ur ett relativt perspektiv. Eller: endast den högsta monaden är, just som sådan, med nödvändighet samtidigt individuell och allmän. Hauser framhåller med rätta att den av Josef König framställda tanken att “das metaphysische Individuum zugleich das Allgemeine, und umgekehrt, das das metaphysisch Allgemeine zugleich das Individuum ist, findet seine Erfüllung…erst in dem Begriff Gottes.” [Hauser, 73, not 57.]

Uppfattningen om perceptionens olikhet som utöver inifrånbestämd och i sig sluten individuell utveckling även perspektivisk mångfald och hierarkisk fullkomlighetsgradation präglar också Leibniz’ förståelse av filosofins historia: fastän de skilda systemen ej i samma utsträckning rymmer sanning, utgör de dock en nödvändig perspektivisk komplementaritet.

Det förblir dock i mycket oklart vari de individuella karaktäristika i monadens transcendenta ursprunglighet, skild från den succesion av tillstånd som är blott fenomenell, består. Leibniz tycks växla mellan de två perspektiven. Hausers framställning fördunklas mot slutet därigenom att han delvis förefaller börja sammanblanda frågan om förhållandet mellan de underordnade monadernas fenomenella och egentliga tillstånd med frågan om förhållandet mellan de underordnade monadernas och Guds, den högsta monadens, perspektiv. I viss mening är naturligtvis de underordnade monaderna i sin icke-fenomenella aspekt “absoluta” i det de är ursprungliga delar av i-sig-verkligheten. Men detta innebär inte att deras eget egentliga perspektiv är Guds, utan endast att de i denna aspekt äger ett egentligt och ursprungligt perspektiv och innehåll som är skilt från det fenomenella.

Rätt verkar Hauser dock ha i att Leibniz växlar även mellan den andra frågans två perspektiv, i det hela hans filosofi förutsätter en förmåga att i någon mån skildra verklighetens totalitet också utifrån Guds perspektiv, och att frågan om hur detta kan uppnås och uttryckas förblir outredd. Rätt har han väl även i att Leibniz “nyckelbegrepp”, den preetablerade harmonin, vill förklara hur också monadens fenomenella erfarenhet nödvändigt följer ur dess ursprungliga väsen och position och med dessa givna innehåll. [Ibid. 91-6.]

The Dawn Horse Testament of Heart-Master Da Free John

The Dawn Horse Press, 1985

Back Cover:

Master Da Free John says The Dawn Horse Testament is a c onversation he is always having with everyone:

“In making this book I have been bediating everykone, contacting everyone, dealing with psychic forces everywhere, in all time. It is a living conversation with absolutely everyone, personally.”

In his Dawn Horse Testament, Master Da Free John’s revelation of the Way of the Heartfinds ecstatic expression. It is a Blessed Covenant, his personal Testament to each and every person who would hear him. He addresses his listener as “Beloved” and, speaking from the Heart, he announces perhaps the greatest commitment to the Liberation of living beings by any Divinely Inspired personage – “This Is The Final Truth. You Are God, In God, Of God. My Devotee Is The God I Have Come To Serve.”

Heart Master Da’s Dawn Horse Testament is the meeting place of human longing and Divine Grace. It is the universal Upanishad for the Common Era, a Master-Teaching, profound in its meaning, yet simple to comprehend, beautifully articulating in the midst of our modern madness the ancient Love-Yoga of Communion with the Divine Being.

Mankind is indeed fortunate to be the recipient in such generous measure of the Blessings of the Heart-Master of the Dawn Horse, whose Testament Reveals the Exalted Poet, Truth-Realizer, and Love-Master, the Heart-Friend speaking Secrets, his Heart yearning for the meeting, indeed the marriage and final reconciliation, of human longing and Divine Grace.

Within the pages of this mighty book the reader will surely find one of the greatest and most beautifully written scriptural revelations of any age or faith. In exstasy Heart Master Da spoke his Dawn H orse Message to gatherings of devotees, and in ecstasy he wrote The Dawn Horse Testament, the “Eternal Conversation” through which he continues to speak to every one.

The Dawn Horse Testament abounds with the Mysteries of the Heart, which, previous to the Incarnation of Master Da Free John, have never been fully Revealed on Earth. There is an essential Wisdom in this book that will be lauded for centuries to come, or as long as th e Fire of Truth remains burning in this world. Indeed, in spite of our troubled times, The Dawn Horse Testament and Master Da Free John, who created it, are that Eternal Fire, Burning Bright.

“This Testament is my Intention to Awaken the Transcendental Self of every being to the Real Divine Condition. To read and understand this Testament is to be released from the egoic vision. Let it be so.” – Da Free John

Blurb by Ken Wilber:

The Dawn Horse Testament is the most ecstatic, most profound, most complete, most radical, and most comprehensive single spiritual text ever to be penned and confessed by the Human-Transcendental Spirit.”

Edgar Peter Bowron & Peter Bjorn Kerber: Pompeo Batoni

Prince of Painters in Eighteenth-Century Rome

Yale University Press, 2007     Amazon.com

Book Description:

Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787) was the most celebrated painter in Rome in his day. For nearly half a century, he recorded the visits of international travellers on the Grand Tour, and these portraits remain among the most memorable artistic accomplishments of the period. His history, religious, and mythological paintings were also highly prized by great patrons and collectors in Britain and on the Continent. This book, published in celebration of the tercentenary of Batoni’s birth, offers a vivid appreciation of his work. More than 150 full-colour illustrations represent the finest examples of his paintings from public and private collections in Europe and the United States. Some of these works are newly discovered and some have never before been on public display. A series of illuminating essays explores Batoni’s art, his various patrons, his working methods and techniques, his final years, and his historiography and critical reception.
About the Authors:
Edgar Peters Bowron is Audrey Jones Beck Curator of European Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and a specialist in eighteenth-century Italian art.
Peter Bjorn Kerber completed his doctoral thesis on Pompeo Batoni at the University of Munich.