Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column
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"I would like to open this site for conversation with women of all ages, convictions and styles of life – wherever situated on the gamut of experience. In principle, there is no bar to men joining in, since how one defines women has a lot to do with what it means to be a man. But it is women I invite to pull up a chair at this virtual café table and put their questions and views into the conversation. I can be wrong as often as right, so specific advice will be avoided. What will be sought is light on how best to frame the situation of women, considered as a highly interesting problematic. What kind of hand have we been dealt, as women, and how can we best play it?
Comments are warmly encouraged on any post at any point."
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Monthly Archives: August 2019
Is Beauty for the Birds?
Is Beauty for the Birds? We set up our deck fountain fairly late this summer and — as a result, it seemed – no birds came. For weeks, they just stayed away. This was very disappointing, since we watch them … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, books, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Health, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Ideology, Idolatry, Literature, Masculinity, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Ontology, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, Romance, scientism, secular, Sex Appeal, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged aesthetic distance, aesthetics, architectural genius, Art, beauty, beauty as objective, beauty as sacred, beauty as subjective, birdbath, birds congregating, cynicism, deck fountain, disputing over taste, environmental harmony, gossip, groupthink, hopelessness, inwardness, outward form, painting seascapes, pornography, propaganda, propaganda in art, quality and quantity, relativistic sophisticates, Roger Scruton’s “Beauty: A Very Short Introduction”, rudeness, sparrows, suspending disbelief, taste, the eye of the beholder, the qualitative, the quantifiable, the sacred, The Sistine Chapel, The Taj Mahal, ugliness, ugliness in art, water coolers, wrens
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The Meaning of Meaninglessness
I’m reading a book by a philosopher named Susan Wolf about the meaning of life. Or rather, about the importance of meaning in a good life. What prompts such a book? you may ask. Susan Wolf explains that philosophers have … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, books, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Mind Control, Modernism, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged curing depression, cynicism, definitions of the good life, depression, despair, empirical evidence, facts and theories, fashionable theories, finding your path, having a passion, human purposes, identity theory, life after death, life’s purposes, little things, meaning of life, meaning of meaning, meaninglessness, mind and brain, opinion shapers, passion for philosophy, personal quandary, philosopher’s books, philosophers, philosophic authors, pointlesslessness, quality time, quantity and quality, skepticism, socially constructed beliefs, socially constructed values, Susan Wolf’s Meaning in Life and Why It Matters, the absurd, the search for meaning, too brief to matter, too small to matter, value judgments, what happens when we die, worldviews
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“Two Views”
“Two Views” This is the aerial view of Narraguagus Bay and the same bay, painted as I saw it from the attic of our old barn. We are back there this week, visiting old friends in Washington County, Downeast Maine. … Continue reading
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Real Life Returns
Real Life Returns I’ve just finished writing and footnoting an article, exploring new territory, with potential impact in a controversy that’s been roiling opinion-shapers for decades. Tonight I sent it to an editor at an influential journal of opinion who … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Memoir, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, politics of ideas, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail’s debut, animal characters, bad kids, Bagheera the black panther, Baloo the Bear, bungalow colony, Camp Hilltop, childhood friendship, controversial essay, falling flower pot, famous victory, few mourners, fighting injustice, fighting words, fisticuffs, grown-up stuff, influential review, Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue”, journal of opinion, kid stuff, kudos, Mowgli, Old Stony Road, opinion shapers, pyrrhic victory, real life, receptive editor, rich and famous, Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, scholarly article, social flop, summer camp, summer playtime, the unexpected, unfair combat, Watchung hills of New Jersey
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