a publication series of aesthetic aphorisms

all languages accepted with English translation!!

Honorary Members:         Ken’ichi Iwaki                Writer, Japan

                                          Thomas Kinsella             Poet, Ireland (1928-2021)

Lead Editor:                      Gerald Cipriani               Academic, Philosophy & Culture

Title:   Figural – Aesthetic Aphorisms Today

Aims and Scope:

Figural uniquely offers a platform for scholars and workers of the humanities and the arts as well as the social and natural sciences to publish sayings and apophthegms that express aesthetic concerns or relate to aesthetic issues. The word “aesthetic” is not here restricted to some vague idea of beauty or formal matters; rather, the aesthetic refers to the experience of meaning (as in Hans-Georg Gadamer’s interpretation) at the crossroads of culture and sense-perception (as implied in the ancient Greek etymology of the word – αἴσθησις). Our conception of the aesthetic goes therefore beyond the narrowing field defined by eighteenth century Europe. 

Of course, the appearance and style of aphorisms, or any writing for that matter, are essential but only inasmuch as form and content become indistinguishable. What we care about is the Way that goes beyond skill, as Chuang Tzu would have it. We are interested in aesthetic aphorisms that find thoughtful ways to express perceptual experiences of the reality of this world and to renew such a reality through creative imagination. 

The publication series does not aim at providing theoretical explanatory models or narratives of any kind; instead, we seek to publish aphorisms that are neither abstract nor figurative, but “figural,” as Gilles Deleuze defined the word when referring to painting in his Francis Bacon (1981) – aphorisms that are thought, written and hopefully read as such. 

Website:                     www.figural.net  (in construction)

Example of suitable aphorisms:

Nature and art: The material and the workmanship. There is no beauty unaided, no excellence that does not sink to the barbarous, unless saved by art: It redeems the bad and perfects the good. Because nature commonly forsakes us at her best, take refuge in art. The best in nature is raw without art, and the excellent is lacking if it lacks culture. Without cultivation everyone is a clown and needs polish, fine attributes notwithstanding.

Baltasar Gracián (The Art of Worldly Wisdom, 1637)

Astonishment is the only realistic emotion.

Celia Green (The Decline and Fall of Science, 1976)

‘You cannot believe what you are saying.’ ‘Well, no. Hardly ever. But the philosopher is like the poet. The latter composes ideal letters for an ideal nymph, only to plumb with his words the depths of passion. The philosopher tests the coldness of his gaze, to see how far he can undermine the fortress of bigotry.’

Umberto Eco (The Island of the Day Before, 1994)

Without art we would be nothing but foreground and live entirely in the spell of that perspective which makes what is closest at hand and most vulgar appear as if it were vast, and reality itself.

Friedrich Nietzsche (The Gay Science, 1882)

What can be said lacks reality. 
Only what fails to make its way into words exists and counts.

 Cioran (Drawn and Quatered, 1979)

Then what are the characteristics of the type of pleasure that makes up the sense of beauty? What is the special characteristic of the sense of beauty? According to the explanation of German idealism since Kant, the sense of beauty is pleasure detached from the ego. It is a pleasure of the moment, when one forgets one’s own interest such as advantage and disadvantage, gain and loss. Only this muga (ecstasy, selflessness) is the essential element of beauty; when this is lacking, no matter what kind of pleasure you feel, it cannot give rise to the sense of beauty.

Nishida Kitaro (Art and Morality, 1920-23)

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.

Blaise Pascal (Pensées, 1670)

As a bird flying to other places, and a sparrow going here or there: so a curse uttered without cause shall come upon a man.
As a bird, etc... The meaning is, that a curse uttered without cause shall do no harm to the person that is cursed, but will return upon him that curseth, as whithersoever a bird flies, it returns to its own nest.

The Book of Proverbs (10th/6th c. BCE)

The effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than is that of the other arts, for these others speak only of the shadow, but music of the essence.

Arthur Schopenhauer (The World as Will and Representation, 1819)

If a lion could talk, we could not understand him.

Ludwig Wittgenstein (Philosophical Investigations, 1953)

Work on a good piece of writing proceeds on three levels: a musical one, where it is composed; an architectural one, where it is constructed; and finally, a textile one, where it is woven.

Walter Benjamin (One Way Street And Other Writings, 1924)

Life is short, and Art long; the crisis fleeting; experience perilous, and decision difficult. The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and externals cooperate.

Hippocrates (Aphorisms, ca. 4th c. BCE)

We cannot remember too often that when we observe nature, and especially the ordering of nature, it is always ourselves alone we are observing.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (Aphorisms, 1765-99)

A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us.

Franz Kafka (Letter to Oscar Pollak, 1904)

When they blow the horn of plenty this loud, it must be empty.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (More Unkempt Thoughts, 1968)

Man invented the car to comfortably sit in jams.

Andrzej Majewski  (Aphorisms. Magnum in Parvo, 2000)

Broken wings fit more easily in standard-size boxes.

Mikhail Turovsky (Itch of Wisdom, 1986)

The shadows: some hide, others reveal.

Antonio Porchia (Voices, 1943)

Editorial operations:

All submissions should be sent to the following address: figural@mail.com. Aphorisms judged to be appropriate for publication will be published as they are. Aphorisms judged to be potentially publishable will be subject to amendments before publication. Aphorisms that are rejected cannot normally be resubmitted in a revised form. All aphorisms to be published will need the approval of at least two editors (General Editor and Assistant Editors).

Publication and languages:

It is anticipated that the vast majority of aphorisms submitted for possible publication will be in English, but aphorisms in all languages will also be considered together with their English translation. Aphorisms written in non-Roman characters will be published as well in their original characters together with transliteration.

The General Editor will reserve the right to consult with academics and external advisors of relevant native languages. An Editorial Board of Consultants will be built when such cases arise.

Aphorisms should normally be between 10 and 100 words in length with no footnotes or references. No images or graphs will be published. Both British and American spellings will be acceptable provided there is consistency.

Authors’ details will appear listed on a separate page at the end of the issue with:

. The full name of the author

. The affiliation of the author (if any) 

. An email address

. A biographical note (up to 25 words)

Production: frequency, and number of pages per year:

Aphorisms will be published electronically as they are accepted and in print

once there are sufficient submissions to produce a volume.

Tentative frequency: annual.

Number of pages per volume: between 50 and 100.

Tentative Launch Date:

On-going

Overview of existing publications in the field:

No such series or journals of “aesthetic aphorisms” in the English language currently exist. There are, of course, many journals of poetry as well as edited books and dictionaries of aphorisms, but there is no platform that operates on a regular basis for authors to publish their aesthetic aphorisms. 

Promotion:

Any journal of human sciences, art studies, social sciences and even science journals; international congresses and conferences in the relevant fields; any academic websites worldwide and online booksellers (e.g. amazon.com); any literary publishing platforms.

Readership:

The readership of aphorisms is usually very large because of their relative non-technical nature, their creative dimension and, very often, their relevance to everyday life and the problems of this world. The publication series would therefore be suitable to all academic institutions at all levels of study, libraries and good bookshops across the English-speaking world and beyond.

Bios:

Ken’ichi Iwaki                                Honorary Member

Ken’ichi Iwaki is a prolific writer who is known for his theory of aisthesis. He was the Director of the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (2005-2009). He is Professor Emeritus at Kyoto University where he taught aesthetics for many years. He also served as President of the Japanese Society for Aesthetics.

Thomas Kinsella (1928-2021)       Honorary Member 

Thomas Kinsella is a renowned poet as well as translator of the Irish language (The Táin; An Duanaire: 1600-1900). His poetry often explores the fundamental nature of human experience in the specific historical, political, and cultural contexts of Ireland (Collected Poems, 1956–2001).

Gerald Cipriani                              Lead Editor                                                                                        

Gerald Cipriani specialises in the philosophy of art and culture, as well as cross-cultural philosophy. He has conducted research and taught philosophy for many years in Europe and East Asia, including at Taiwan National Central University, National University of Ireland, Galway, Kyushu University, Japan, and the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, UK. He is the Founding Editor of journals of humanities Culture and Dialogue (Brill) and Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology (Routledge). He has edited around thirty titles in philosophy and the arts and published numerous texts in the fields. 

The publication series is endorsed by the International Association of Aesthetics

 www.iaaesthetics.org