Monthly Archives: February 2020

Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Abigail

Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir Talk about a Power Couple! He is responsible for the 20th-century French Existentialist claims that life is absurd, God nonexistent, we create our identities and the values we give to our projects. And she? … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Literature, Love, Male Power, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged acculturation, anti-nature, arbitrary life projects, aristocratic pretensions, École normale supérieure, beauty and ugliness, bourgeois values, Carol Seymour-Jones’ A Dangerous Liason, character formation, compensatory piety, constructed identity, contingency, cosmetic values, created identities, dowry, escaping poverty, everything is permitted, existential misjudgments, false aristocracy, female chastity, female nature, feminine submission, French aestheticism, French existentialism, God’s non-existence, good-looking Frenchmen, gratuitous act, human nature, human nothingness, inherited wealth, intellectuals and culture, invented identities, invented values, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea, lookism, making the best of circumstances, mariage de raison, marital failure, marrying for class, marrying for money, Merleau-Ponty, necessity and contingency, normaliens, Power couple, Sartre’s family, second wave feminism, self-invention, Simone de Beauvoir, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, social class, social enchantment, social power, submissive womanhood, the Big Questions, the for-itself, the in-itself, the ugly kid, verbal brilliance, wealth and privilege, without God, womanizing husband, women's liberation, words as weapons | 1 Comment

The Death of a Friend

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Abigail

The Death of a Friend This week word came that my friend Shirley Kennedy had died. On the one hand, I was relieved for her. It was like hearing that a friend, unfairly imprisoned, had been set free. On the … Continue reading →

Posted in Afterlife, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Chivalry, Class, Contemplation, Cool, Courage, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, Faith, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Health, Heroes, hidden God, Ideality, Identity, Immortality, Jews, life and death struggle, Love, Memoir, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Past and Future, Peace, politics of ideas, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Social Conventions, social ranking, 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, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a different woman, antebellum home, Back Bay Road, barrel racing, bodily failure, country friend, death as release, finding the true owners, G.I. Bride, home birth, horsemanship, humble gratitude, humble virtues, Jewish concerns, local historical society, local history, midwife, Milbridge Maine, Old Mainers, political extremism, post-war Germany, rodeo ribbons, selling the house you don’t own, Shirley Kennedy, sisterly feeling, the right of way, the shore strip, true friendship, understanding horses, Washington County, womanly arts, women friends | 2 Comments

It’s August and My Shrink is in the Hamptons!

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Abigail

It’s August and My Shrink is in the Hamptons! There was a time in Manhattan when virtually everyone I knew was in Freud-based therapy. So people would have trouble getting through August, because that was when their shrinks were vacationing … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, books, bureaucracy, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sexuality, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "Philosophic Foundations of Feminism", August in Manhattan, bad arguments, counterculture, do your own thing, Dora and Freud, Edward Erwin, Freud and women, Freud-based therapy, Freud’s “Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria”, Freud’s case studies, Freud’s life, Freudian diagnosis, hysteria, life validation, Manhattan, nonjudgmental, Norman Lebrecht’s “Genius and Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World 1847-1947”, philosophical assumptions, philosophy at Stony Brook, poetic verdict, psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic cures, quack cures, quackery, SUNY at Stony Brook, the “Wolf Man”, the Hamptons | Leave a comment

A Remarkable Evening

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Abigail

A Remarkable Evening Jerry and I belong to a Christian/Jewish dialogue group that celebrated its 25th year last week, though we haven’t been in it that long. The discussion topic was not so celebratory: anti-semitism and how to destroy it. … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Academe, Action, Art of Living, Atheism, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 18th-century rabbis, admitting guilt, American Jewish Committee, anniversary celebration, anti-semitism, anti-semitism and me, anti-zionist demonstrators, anti-zionist placards, BCCC/AJC, Bucks County Christian Coalition, cafeteria-style dinner, changing the subject, Christian blinders, Christian clubbiness, Christian/Jewish dialogue, curing anti-semitism, exclusivity, experiencing anti-semitism, forbidden topics, Holocaust, Holocaust photos, Honorary Counsel General, Krista Bard, l’esprit de l’escalier, Let go and let God, Lithuania, Lithuanian and Jewish heritage, Lithuanian diplomat, Lithuanian heroes, Lithuanian memories, miracle, national guilt, new antisemitism, power of prayer, protesters, public insults, Second World War, spiritual abyss, Talmudic eminence, The Lord’s Prayer, the right answer, the Vilna Gaon | Leave a comment

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Monthly Archives: February 2020

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