Aesthetics

Aesthetics: The Beauty of God, Nature, and Art is an anthology of historical, literary, mathematical, musicological, philosophical, political, psychological and scientific papers illuminating the motif of the aesthetic experience and aesthetic value (¡§beauty¡¨)of God, nature, and art as intrinsic properties of the objects in accord with St. Thomas Aquinas¡¦s definition of beauty as ¡§that which pleases in the very apprehension of it¡¨ ¡V that is, in the spirit of a moderate realist epistemological view of the objects of the aesthetic experience since, as Aristotle said, ¡§Beauty is order, symmetry, and definition.¡¨ The topics are inclusive of the beauty of mathematics as exemplified in hyperbolic non ¡V Euclidean geometry and in the consistency of real analysis and the propositional calculus, the mathematical symmetry of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) ¡V the genetic material ¡V and other physical, biological, and artistic objects in terms of the ¡§golden ratio¡¨ and the unity of string theory, the Schillinger projective geometrical method of composition of melody in terms of the use of melodic ¡§organic forms¡¨ (i.e. the terms of the golden spirals of the Fibonacci summation series) in composing the notes of the melody based upon the principle of expanding intervals, the movie review of Pi (fà) with its focus upon the theme of numerological patterns inherent in all physical and biologic phenomena of the universe (i.e. the ubiquity of the fÖ, the ¡§golden ratio¡¨) and the theory of its protagonist that diverse systems of nonlinear dynamics share a unifying numerical pattern (¡§chaos theory¡¨), the cursive form of hieroglyphics (hieratic) and the mathematical structure of the Rhind Papyrus as illustrative of the beautiful in Egyptian mathematics of the Middle Kingdom, phenomenological and philosophical reflections on the spiritual nature of human self ¡V consciousness (the ¡§I¡¨ ¡V soul) which apprehends beauty and expresses aesthetic judgments, the ¡§transgender hypothesis¡¨ of the etiology of the neuropsychologic phenomenon of transgenderism and potential stem cell therapy as an aesthetic alternative to the Frankensteinian ¡§Benjamin triad,¡¨ the aesthetic disvalue of mental disorder as exemplified in a case analysis of ¡§panic disorder,¡¨ American political disorder in terms of the lack of broader FDA and FCC investigatory powers with respect to the marketing of cell phones whose electromagnetic radiofrequency (¡§RF radiation¡¨) is associated with biological effects and potential medical hazards, the paralysis of the American government regarding aircraft noise pollution and its serious biological and psychological effects, the inevitability of the American Civil War (1861 ¡V 65) as analyzed in terms of the underlying political and socio ¡V economic disordered relations between North and South (and the implicit moral disorder of slavery and duplicity of Northern and Southern politicians in their support of the war), the un- Constitutional interpretations (and Executive policies thereof) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 as indicative of a profound political disorder in the American Republic in terms of human and civil rights, the beauty of the musical structure and performance of Rachmaninov¡¦s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor (Opus 18) For Piano & Orchestra and Full Moon and Open Arms, the beauty of music, color and the unity of God (¡§Come Sunday¡¨) in the life and works of Duke Ellington, a journey to beautiful Mediterranean palaces in The Intruder, the ¡§panoply of sights, sounds, and smells¡¨ of Christmas in Brooklyn, the beauty of hearth, gifts, the Church and the Holy Eucharist of Jesus Christ during Christmas in A Christmas Vignette, the beauty of the ministries of the Sisters of Mercy of Brooklyn and the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn (and the spiritual beauty of Rev. Mother Catherine McAuley and St. Fran